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R EV. .DAS, 



'M M M §§ D € U TT 



THE 



CONSPIRACY UNVEILED 



THE SOUTH SACKIFICED; 



OR, 



THE HORRORS OF SECESSION. 



BY 



EEV. JAMES W." HUNNICUTT, 

EDITOR OF THE FREDERICKSBURG (VA.) CHRISTIAN BANNER. 



"THE UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1863. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by 

JAMES W. HUNNICUTT, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS TO THE PUBLIC. 



The author of this unpretending volume being a Southern 
man by birth and education, by marriage and location, by 
every sacred tie and interest, political, religious, social, and 
domestic, which makes life desirable, but, by force of cir- 
cumstances, driven from his home and all the endearing and 
hallowed associations of life, and thrown into communities 
in which all faces are strange and all eyes look with in- 
difference on the heart-crushed refugee as he passes by in 
sad, silent, and lonely meditation, and presuming under 
circumstances so inauspicious to appear before his country- 
men in the unenviable character of an author, it may be due 
to himself, as well as to a virtuous, intelligent, and patriotic 
public, to briefly give a few incidents connected with his 
past life. 

He was born in Pendleton district, South Carolina, on 
the 16th day of October, 1814. His parents were pious and 
respectable, and both his father and mother, James and 
Nancy Hunnicutt, were natives of South Carolina. 

In the month of February, 1834, he came as a student to 
Randolph Macon College, Virginia, at which institution he 
remained until the spring of 1836. 

In the month of June, 1836, he married Miss Martha 
Frances Smith, the only surviving daughter of Dr. Charles 
Smith, deceased, of Lunenburg county, Virginia. 

In the month of April, 1847, he moved to Fredericks- 
burg, Virginia, and located in that city, in which he re- 



iv INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

mained a resident up to the 29th of August, 1862, at which 
time the city was being evacuated by General Burnside. 

On the 3d of April, 1850, his wife departed this life; and 
a better woman and a more devoted Christian never lived nor 
died. Her precious remains lie at rest in the Fredericks- 
burg (Va.) Cemetery. She was the mother of six children: 
three are in heaven, and three were living last June. 

In the month of August, 1854, he married Miss Elvira 
M. Samuel, of Fredericksburg, Va., his second and present 
wife. She has no child. 

On the 4th of December, 1848, he commenced the pub- 
lication of the "Fredericksburg (Va.) Christian Banner," 
and was the editor and proprietor of that journal until the 
9th of May, 1861, at which time, by force of circumstances 
which he could not control, as the subsequent pages of this 
work will explain, he suspended its publication, and re- 
mained a quiet, but anxious, observer of passing events 
until the 18th of April, 1862, at which time Fredericks- 
burg was delivered over to the military authorities of the 
United States Government by the civil authorities of that 
town. 

On the 9th of May, 1862, he resumed the publication of 
the "Christian Banner;" but, owing to the scarcity of 
paper, and wanting other facilities, occasioned by the rebel- 
lion against the Government of the United States, the 
"Christian Banner," of necessity, was reduced to half its 
original size. When he closed his office in May, 1861, 
there was a small quantity of paper left on hand, which 
served for the first issue in May, 1862. TKere being at 
this time no facilities of transportation of goods by which 
citizens could obtain them from the North, and being 
unable to obtain white paper in Fredericksburg, he was 
advised to continue its publication on brown paper, — which 
he did. 

Prior to the commencement of the publication of the 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. V 

"Christian Banner" in 1848, he published several small 
works, principally, however, of a religious and controversial 
character, which, for the most part, were circulated in Vir- 
ginia and the Southern States. 

His prominent position before the public for the last 
thirteen years of his life as the editor and proprietor of a 
widely-circulating newspaper, and being a minister of the 
gospel for more than thirty years, should, in his humble 
opinion, entitle him to some share of public confidence, 
although a stranger and a refugee in the midst of strangers. 

In politics, he has always been a Constitutional Democrat, 
according to the true political and etymological meaning of 
that term. He is now an uncompromising Southern Union 
man, which it is presumed no one will question after read- 
ing the subsequent pages of this volume. He is no office- 
seeker, — has never asked for, nor held, any office, either 
under the Government of the United States, in any in- 
dividual State, county, corporation, or neighborhood. His 
highest aspirations are to serve his God and country and 
advance the cause of true Christianity and promote the 
happiness of his fellow-man. Prompted by a sense of duty, 
which he feels that he owes to his God and country, his 
wife and children, to his churches and to himself, has 
induced the publication of this volume. 

On Friday, the 29th of August, 1862, about five o'clock 
p.m., a friend of the author came in full haste on horseback 
to his house, to advise him to leave Fredericksburg without 
a moment's delay, as the Confederate troops were supposed 
to be rapidly advancing in great numbers and were nearly 
in sight of the town. On receiving this intelligence, he 
hastened to take leave of his wife, who, on taking the part- 
ing hand, said, " Farewell, my dear husband; take care of 
yourself, and I will pray constantly for you, and I will 
pray to the good Lord to watch over you and to take care 
of you. Farewell, farewell, my dear husband." 



V1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

And with a spirit crushed to earth, and a heart over- 
whelmed with grief, the author was driven out from his 
house, his home, his wife, and from all that makes life de- 
sirable on earth, to wander in solitude and sorrow among 
strangers. And, to add to the poignancy of indescribable 
grief which already preyed upon his deeply -throbbing heart, 
he was insulted and treated with contempt by secessionists 
as he left his house and walked through the streets to the 
car-bridge across the Rappahannock River, over which he 
had to pass. And thus, after having been watched, sus- 
picioned, persecuted, proscribed, ostracized, and having his 
very house eavesdropped by contemptible scoundrels and 
damnable traitors for more than twelve long months, was 
at last driven from his home, his wife, his all on earth, 
amidst the taunts, indignities, and insults of the worthless, 
the vile, the God-forsaken, and the hell-deserving. 

On arriving at the head-quarters of General Burnside, 
which were on the north side of the Rappahannock River, 
as the author stood on the hill and looked over upon the 
devoted city, as the sun threw back his golden hues on the 
towering steeples, the tops of the beautiful houses, the lofty 
hill-tops in the far distance, and the lovely valley of the 
Rappahannock, and contrasted these with the awful gran- 
deur of a mighty army with guns planted and all drawn 
up in battle-array, skirting the hills and bank of the beau- 
tiful Rappahannock River, as it laved the base of the hills 
on which the army was stationed, — as he stood and viewed 
the beautiful, sublime, but terrible melancholy scene before 
him, thoughts of the past, the present, and the horrible 
prospects of the future crowded his mind in such quick 
succession, that, for the first time in his life, he felt in good 
earnest as if he ■wanted to taste the sweets of death. His phi- 
losophy wellnigh forsook him. And for what was all this? 
Had he committed murder or larceny? Was he flying 
from justice? No: nothing of the kind. What then? 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Vll 

Because of his undying devotion to his country, his detesta- 
tion of secession, traitors, and treason. This reflection nerved 
him to the resolve to meet the very worst issue that might 
be forced upon him. 

On Saturday night, the 30th of August, 1862, he arrived 
in Washington City, where he remained, secluded from 
nearly all society except his dear friends and fellow-suf- 
ferers in tribulation, his fellow-refugees from Fredericks- 
burg and its vicinity, of whom there were a goodly number, 
until the 5th of November, 1862, at which time he left 
Washington City, and on the night of the same day he 
arrived with his little son, in the city of Philadelphia, Pa,, 
where he has remained in peaceful retirement up to the 
hour of writing this brief introductory sketch. To say less 
than this, is hardly possible ; to say more than this, may be 
unnecessary. 

In conclusion, the author would respectfully offer a few 
brief remarks in relation to the present volume which is 
now offered to the American people. In preparing this 
work for the press, the author has labored under the most 
unfavorable circumstances, as the intelligent reader may 
readily allow when he is informed that every word in this 
book has been written and copied by the author's own hand 
since he has been a refugee. Having no documents to aid 
him except the files of the "Christian Banner," he was 
forced to copy every extract which is introduced into this 
work. The deeply afflicting circumstances, also, under 
which the author has labored while preparing this volume 
for the press, will, no doubt, be taken into consideration by 
the intelligent reader. 

This book, as the reader will observe, is divided into two 
parts. The first part contains sundry editorials which were 
published in the "Christian Banner," beginning as far 
back as the month of March, 1860, and continued until the 
9th of May, 1861. From these editorials, and the matter 

1* 



Vlll INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

contained in the first part of this book, the reader will 
learn some of the agencies, influences, intrigues, &c. &c. 
which were used by the arch-traitors of this rebellion to 
consummate their plot of damnable treason against the 
Government of the United States. These editorials having 
been published during the time of the great national ex- 
citement, and in the very heart of the rebellion, entitle 
them to more than ordinary consideration, as they were 
written and published while the scenes were being acted 
out, and, therefore, are certainly more accurate and correct 
than if written simply from memory. From March, 1860, 
to May, 1861, the eertainty of a dissolution of the Union, 
in the event of certain contingencies, and the horrors of 
secession, revolution, and civil war, were kept prominently 
before the readers of the "Christian Banner," to deter 
them from committing the suicidal act which the author 
knew, if committed, would inevitably plunge the whole 
country into ruin. Writing so repeatedly on the same sub- 
jects — the Union, secession, the intrigues of politicians, the 
certainty of a dissolution, and the horrors of civil war, &c. 
&c. — of necessity causes a sameness of language and ideas 
in some articles, which it is hoped by the author will be 
excused by the patriotic and intelligent reader. During 
the time these editorials were being published in the 
"Banner," some said they would "lock them up, and keep 
them," for the purpose in after-years "to prove the editor 
a false prophet." Let them now do it. 

The circumstances connected with this deep, dark, and 
damnable conspiracy against the United States Government 
are gradually unfolded to the mind of the reader, until he 
reaches the culminating-point, the sacrifice of Virginia, 
when the testimony becomes overwhelming, and every 
doubt is irresistibly swept from the mind, however skeptical 
that mind may be. 

The second part of this work embraces all the leading 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. IX 

editorials of the "Christian Banner" during its publication 
from the time of the occupancy of Fredericksburg by the 
United States troops to the time of the evacuation of the 
town by General Burnside in August, 1862. From these 
editorials the reader will learn something of the condition 
of affairs in and about Fredericksburg during the time that 
that ill-fated city was held by the Federals. 

There is one fact connected with this subject which is of 
great and vital importance to the author, and one which 
the intelligent reader cannot fail at once to appreciate. It is 
the following. The editorials of the "Christian Banner" 
before the war, and the editorials of the " Christian Banner" 
since the war, which are published in this book, were pub- 
lished in the same town, in the same office, by the same 
hands, and circulated in the same community : if, there- 
fore, the author had written falsely, every man, woman, 
and child in that community could and would have risen 
up and denounced his editorials as falsehoods and a base 
imposition on the public. This fact alone is sufficient to 
carry conviction to the mind of the intelligent reader as to 
the truth and correctness of the statements of the author. 
Moreover, the author hopes to be able to secure for this 
work a large circulation among the people of the South, 
believing as he does that the facts and truths contained in 
it would be heartily endorsed by thousands of the Southern 
people, if they could only throw off the iron yoke which 
the arch-traitors of this diabolical conspiracy have forced 
upon their necks. We join issue with the leaders in this 
rebellion, and not with the people. The leaders forced the 
war upon the people, and then have the unblushing impu- 
dence to say, "It's the people's war;" "the people got it 
up, and the people must fight it out." It is an infamous 
libel upon the people. The people never wanted war; the 
people never got it up: the accursed leaders got it up, and 
make the people fight it out. Just as if a tyrant, with a 



X INTEODUCTOEY EEMAEKS. 

loaded pistol pointed at the head of his servant, says, 
"Thrust your hand into the fire, or I'll blow your brains 
out;" when in goes the hand; and when it is burned to a 
crisp, the demon tyrant says, "You did it; it was your 
own act; you have no one to blame but yourself." But we 
must close these remarks. 

That this unpretending volume may serve some humble 
part in helping to put down this ungodly rebellion, and in 
restoring peace, order, prosperity, and happiness to the 
country; that the leaders in this rebellion may receive 
punishment commensurate with their crimes ; that the 
people who have been deceived by them and led into ruin 
may see their error, renounce their leaders, and return to 
their former loyalty to the Union ; that refugees everywhere 
may be blessed of God and cared for by their fellow-citizens; 
that their wives and children may be provided for and pro- 
tected by Heaven from all harm ; that the time may speedily 
come when the "Star-Spangled Banner" shall be thrown to 
the breeze from the top of every Capitol and State- House 
in the Union; that tyrants and despots may be crushed; 
that liberty and freedom may triumph over slavery and 
despotism ; that secession, with all its horrible train of 
curses, may be eternally damned; that the Union may 
continue "one and inseparable, now and forever;" that 
God in mercy may overrule all things for the ultimate 
good of the whole people ; that the reader may be blessed, 
the country redeemed, and the world saved, — is the sincere 
wish and constant prayer of the 

Author. 



CONTENTS. 



PAKT I. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. — The Author's Devotion to the Union — Terrible Results 
of a Dissolution foreshadowed — Editorial of March 8, 1860 13 

Chapter II. — Signs of Dissolution — Charleston Convention — Se- 
ceders jubilant — Corruption of Politicians, etc. etc 15 

Chapter III. — Political Changes — The Author Democratic — War 
Spirit, etc. etc 19 

Chapter IV.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of June 28, 1860... 25 

Chapter V.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of July 26, 1860 27 

Chapter VI. — Fusion of Political Parties urged — If they do not, 
they are reprehensible — Peaceable Secession impossible — Separa- 
tion of the Democratic Party — Separation of the M. E. Church 30 

Chapter VII. — The "Nigger!" "Nigger!" "Nigger!" — War-Cry 
for Political Purposes — Politicians Great Knaves, etc. etc 37 

Chapter VIII. — Terrible Revolution predicted — Fusion of Political 
Parties urged — Why the Author attends Political Meetings — In- 
fernal Plot of Treason — Are Wise, Smith, Seddon, etc., Traitors, 
etc.? — Servile Insurrections predicted, etc. etc 42 

Chapter IX. — The Election of Abraham Lincoln no Just Cause for 
the Secession of any State, etc 58 

Chapter X. — Political Parties in North Carolina — The State for the 
Union — Certainty and Horrors of Civil War predicted, etc. etc 59 

Chapter XL — The "Banner's" Fidelity to the South and the Union 
— Importance of Preserving the Union, etc. etc 65 

Chapter XII. — Shall the former Glories of a Nation's Greatness be 
annihilated? — Dissolution of the Union cannot better the Con- 
dition of the Country — Property depreciating — Confidence de- 
stroyed, etc. etc 74 

Chapter XIII. — Horrors of a Dissolution of the Union— South Caro- 
lina passes an Ordinance of Secession — The Secessionists jubilant 

— General Remarks, etc ■ 86 

xi 



Xll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter XIV. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of January 3, 
1861 95 

Chapter XV. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of January 10, 
1861 100 

Chapter XVI. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of January 24, 
1861 105 

Chapter XVII. — Extract from "Christian Banner" of January 31, 
1861 115 

Chapter XVIII. — There's Hope for the Union — Union Candidates 
elected to the State Convention by a Large Majority — General 
Remarks, etc. etc 140 

Chapter XIX. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of February 14, 
1861 145 

Chapter XX. — Hope for the Union wanes — Jeff Davis's Speech in 
Montgomery — General Remarks, etc. etc 151 

Chapter XXI. — Secesh Caucus Cliques — Great Secesh Meeting and 
Union Meeting in Fredericksburg — Imposition of Secesh Orators — 
Secesh Remarks, etc. etc 163 

Chapter XXII. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of March 21, 
1861 178 

Chapter XXIIL— Saint Paul and the Gospel, and the Rev. Dr. 
George W. Carter and Secession — a Contrast 186 

Chapter XXIV. — Extract from "Christian Banner" of March 28, 
1861 203 

Chapter XXV. — Extract from "Christian Banner" of March 28, 
1861 213 

Chapter XXVI.— Extract from "Christian Banner" of April 4, 1861. 216 
Chapter XXVII. — Everybody in a Fog — Stampede — Raising Seces- 
sion Flags— Petition of R. Thorn, Esq., for Post-Office— What 
then ? — Let the North and South be heard — Secession Conven- 
tion 233 

Chapter XXVIII. — The Conspiracy Unveiled — Virginia Sacrificed. 241 
Chapter XXIX. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of April 25, 

1861 289 

Chapter XXX. — The Last Editorials of the " Christian Banner" of 

1861 — General and Closing Remarks 291 



CONTENTS. Xlll 



PART II. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. — Extract from "Christian Banner" of May 9, 1862 SOI 

Chapter II.— "The Crisis on us" 303 

Chapter III.— Heart-Rending Thought 306 

Chapter IV. — Secession like the Devil 307 

Chapter V. — Why dethrone Reason? 311 

Chapter VI. — Reflections 312 

Chapter VII. — A Word of Admonition to the Citizens of Fredericks- 

hurg 314 

Chapter VIII. — The Confederate Army leave Fredericksburg 316 

Chapter IX. — Federal Troops take Possession of Fredericksburg.... 319 
Chapter X. — Federal Troops landing on the Wharf of Fredericks- 
burg „ ...„ ^ r ~.~. 320 

Chapter XL— Extract from "Christian Banner" of May 17, 1862... 321 

Chapter XII.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of May 27, 1862.. 332 

Chapter XIII. —Extract from "Christian Banner" of May 27,1862. 339 

Chapter XIV.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of May 27, ld62. 342 
Chapter XV. — President Lincoln and Hon. E. M. Stanton visit 

Fredericksburg 343 

Chapter XVI.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of May 20, 1862. 344 

Chapter XVIL— Extract from " Christian Banner" of May 31, 1862. 349 
Chapter XVIII. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of June 7, 

1862 351 

Chapter XIX. — Colored Population of Fredericksburg 354 

Chapter XX. — Extract from " Christian Banner" of June 14, 1862... 355 

Chapter XXL — Then and Now 357 

Chapter XXII. — The Great Battles near Richmond 360 

Chapter XXIIL— Getting our Rights 361 

Chapter XXIV. — God will prosper the Right , 362 

Chapter XXV. — A New Era will dawn upon the Old Dominion 363 

Chapter XXVI. — Extract from "Christian Banner" of June 18, 

1862 363 

Chapter XXVII. — Negro Stampede 369 

Chapter XXVIIL— Ring-Leaders of Secession 370 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Chapter XXIX.— Extract from "Christian Banner" of June 26, 
1362 370 

Chapter XXX. — Practical Secessionists 375 

Chapter XXXL— Extract from "Christian Banner" of July 2, 
1862 37 6 

Chapter XXXII.— Won't Patronize You 383 

Chapter XXXIIL— Extract from "Christian Banner" of July 5, 
1S62 383 

Chapter XXXIV.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of July 14, 
1862 387 

Chapter XXXV.— Secession 396 

Chapter XXXVL— True to One's Own Section of Country 405 

Chapter XXXVIL— Lying 406 

Chapter XXXVIII.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of July 30, 
1862 407 

Chapter XXXIX.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of July 30, 
1862 416 

Chapter XL.— Extract from " Christian Banner" of July 30, 1862... 418 

Chapter XLL — Privileges Abused.— Sundries 421 

Chapter XLIL— Guerrilla Bands , 422 

Chapter XLIII. — Examine the Logic 423 

Chapter XLIV. — "Can't disgrace Ourselves and our Children by 

taking the Oath of Allegiance" 424 

Chapter XLV. — Fredericksburg Three Years ago, and Fredericks- 
burg now 426 

Chapter XLVI. — Virginians, Prepare for the Worst ! 427 

Chapter XLVIL— Wonderful to Tell 430 

Chapter XLVIII. — " I never expected it would come to this" 432 

Chapter XLIX. — Respectability 435 

Chapter L. — Poor Whites Loyal 436 

Chapter LI. — The Union as it was.. 437 

Chapter LII. — Order in Fredericksburg during the Time the Town 

was occupied by our Troops ,. 439 

Chapter LIII. — Slaves Seeking Freedom 444 

Chapter LIV. — Union Element of the South 443 



THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE AUTHOR'S DEVOTION TO THE UNION— TERRIBLE RE- 
SULTS OF A DISSOLUTION FORESHADOWED — EDITORIAL 
OF MARCH 8, 1860. 



DISSOLVE THE UNION. 

Of all the terribly wild and wicked infatuations that 
has ever befallen any nation since the creation of man, 
surely the most awfully reckless and ruinous has seized 
the American people. 

To dissolve the Union in thought is wicked, in 
word it is treason, in act would be to damn «a nation 
wholly. Dissolve the Union ! And then, what ? Then 
may holy angels weep, and all the sainted patriots who 
fell in freedom's cause on American soil veil their faces 
at the departed glory of the happiest and most highly- 
favored people to be found on the pages of the world's 
great history ! Then may devils damned laugh at the 
finished folly of man, and chant in fiendish anthems 
the utter annihilation of the purest form of govern- 
ment the world has ever known ! Dissolve the Union, 
and civil war begins ; fire and sword, carnage, blood, 
death, pestilence, and woe, like a fearful, desolating 
avalanche from heaven, would sweep over " the land of 

2 13 



14 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

the free, and the home of the brave," involving all in 
the common ruin. 

Dissolve the Union, and the Constitution is gone ! 
lost ! lost ! forever lost ! 

The " Star-Spangled Banner" would wave no longer, 
inspiring American hearts with confidence of the free- 
dom of speech, the freedom of the press, and the rights 
of conscience ! No : the liberty of speech, the liberty 
of the press, and the rights of conscience would all 
be crushed to earth, — trampled into dust beneath the 
unhallowed feet of wicked tyrants and bloodthirsty 
despots ! 

Dissolve the Union, and the South is dissolved, and 
the North is dissolved, and the whole Confederacy is 
dissolved ! It is vanity — the consummation of folly — 
to talk about North and South, if the Union be dis- 
solved ! All confidence, not only between North and 
South, but between man and man, would be destroyed. 
Brother would meet brother, sword and bayonet in 
hand, — brother against brother, father against son, 
and son against father. A man's enemies would be 
everywhere, and his friends nowhere. Enemies abroad 
and enemies at home, without a Constitution, without 
a Congress, without a country, and — may we not say? — 
without a God. For how could such a people look 
unto and call upon a God of justice, love, and mercy, 
having spurned all his blessings and dashed their 
blood-bought privileges into the dust ? 

The Constitution of these United States should be 
as sacred to the American people as was the Ark of 
the Covenant to God's ancient Israel. Let no polluted 
hand touch the Constitution. It is the legacy — the 
great national legacy — left us by our ancestors. It is 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 15 

the price of blood, — the blood of brave men, — the blood 
of patriots, who loved liberty, fought for liberty, bled 
for liberty, died for liberty. Let every true-hearted 
patriot, every American citizen, lay his hands on the 
altar of his God and the Constitution of his country, 
and swear by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, — 
by the God of all the holy apostles, — by the God of 
Washington and the signers of the " Declaration of 
Independence," and by the God of our patriotic ances- 
tors, — to live or die, stand or fall, by the Constitution 
of these United States. 

It is supreme nonsense to talk of a " peaceable 
dissolution" of the Union. It is just as reasonable 
to talk of concord between God and Satan, or of 
harmonizing the laws of heaven and hell. The fact 
is, dissolve the Union, and all is lost, — irrevocably 
lost ! Who is prepared to meet the issue ? Let him 
speak. 



CHAPTEK II. 



SIGNS OF DISSOLUTION — CHARLESTON CONVENTION — SE- 

CEDERS JUBILANT CORRUPTION OF POLITICIANS, ETC., 

ETC. 

Foe, a number of years we had been fearfully im- 
pressed with the idea of an eruption in the Federal 
Government, produced by the officious intermeddling 
of the ultra Abolitionists of the North, and the rock- 
less, hot-headed " fire-eaters" of the South. We were 
convinced that, if ever these two extremes should 



16 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

meet, revolution and civil war would be the result. 
Hence, we anxiously watched the course of political 
events more critically than many of our friends had 
supposed. Having witnessed, when a boy, the un- 
happy state of excitement in South Carolina on the 
question of " Nullification and Union," we dreaded to 
pass through another scene so exciting, unpleasant, 
and destructive to the social and religious privileges 
and enjoyments of the people. 

Prior to the assembling of the " National Demo- 
cratic Convention" in Charleston, South Carolina, on 
the 23d of April, 1860, we were constantly troubled 
with a strange presentiment that some terrible catas- 
trophe was about to befall our happy country. It 
will be remembered that great confusion and excite- 
ment commenced with the organization of that Con- 
vention, occasioned by Mr. Fisher's insisting upon 
his right to present a letter from the "Wood delega- 
tion, with a resolution attached. The Chairman, 
Francis B. Flournoy, deciding that the subject was 
out of order, a spirited debate took place upon the 
resolution providing for the appointment of a com- 
mittee upon permanent organization. Without entering 
into the details of that ever-memorable Convention, 
suffice it to say that the delegates from South Carolina, 
Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, &c. 
&c, withdrew from the Convention; whereupon the 
wildest enthusiastic excitement prevailed among the 
friends of the seceding party, and salutes were given 
in honor of the seceders. Why was all this ? And 
what was it but the strongest demonstration the 
people could give of their delight at the prospective 
downfall of the Republic? In scanning the proceed- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 17 

ings of that Convention, and the final result, together 
with the manifest jubilant spirit of the seceding party, 
and that of their adherents all over the South, our 
heart sickened, and our spirit was stirred within us, 
and in the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 
the 3d, 1860, we wrote the following editorial : — 

"CHARLESTON DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. 

" We had thought at one time to say nothing about 
the Charleston Democratic Convention. But what 
friend to his Cod and country can forbear ? Who can 
look into the awful future and with almost a prophetic 
eye behold the destiny of this great republic, and hold 
his peace ? What true, patriotic American citizen can 
be an indifferent looker-on ? None. 

"Our country has reached a fearful crisis. The 
whole political sea is in a state of universal commotion, 
while awful storms are looming up from every point 
of the compass, all rapidly converging to a single re- 
sult, the overthrow of the republic. Political corruption 
will prove the downfall of our once happy country. 
Deny it who may, political corruption is doing its 
hellish work. 

" Does the secession of Alabama, Mississippi, Loui- 
siana, South Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Delaware, and 
Texas from the Charleston Convention, prognosticate 
nothing? Who will say so? They quarrel about 
platforms, and fight ghosts and phantoms, when, in 
fact, it is men, money, and fame that absorbs their 
mind, consumes their time, and is working the rum of 
the Union. The whole body politic is corrupt to the 
very core. From the crowns of their heads even unto 



18 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

their feet they are naught but one great mass of po- 
litical corruption. The loaves and fishes, the spoils of 
government, to occupy high places, to fill important 
offices, and fatten and revel off of the sweat and toil 
of the people, is the ultimatum of the ambition of most 
modern politicians. We scorn to advocate any such 
course of reckless, wicked, traitorous conduct in any 
man, or set of men. 

" What patriotic soul would hold connection with a 
party of men who are sapping the foundation of our 
Government ? Let party men and party measures 
sink into the deepest and darkest shades of political 
damnation! Our country has been duped, gulled, 
swindled, oppressed, and crushed too long already by 
sycophantic knaves, turn-coat politicians, and con- 
temptible demagogues, who stoop lower than the devil 
would to get into office, and, after being promoted by 
the dear people, are totally unfit, for want of principle 
and good sense, to manage the affairs of Government. 
Despite all the men on earth and devils damned, we 
will stand by the Constitution and the flag of the 
Union until we die." 

From the time of the publication of the above article 
we became a marked man by many of the party- 
leaders contemplating secession. We knew it not at 
the time, so gradual and cautious were the means 
used to crush our influence. We were advised to 
" write nothing on political subjects/' " The ' Banner' 
was a literary and religious journal," and the " organ 
of a religious denomination," and should, therefore, 
refrain from entering into political discussions, for fear 
of doing "injury to the cause of Christianity," "the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 19 

denomination," and, forsooth, for fear the editor should 
lose "popularity and patronage"! 

For ministers to dabble in the muddy, filthy waters 
of politics, we always regarded as a leap from the truly 
sublime to the supremely ridiculous. But for min- 
isters to write and talk in defence of their country, is 
patriotic, commendable, honorable, Christian, Godlike; 
and we now deeply regret that we had not devoted 
every column of our paper to the cause of our beloved 
country. And we also regret, and feel partially con- 
demned, that we did not travel all over the State of 
Virginia and deliver speeches in behalf of the Union, 
in behalf of our country. Now we have no home, no 
church, and no permanent abiding-place, — a refugee 
and an exile from our quiet, peaceful, happy home, 
because we loved our country and tried to save her 
from ruin. 



CHAPTER III. 



POLITICAL CHANGES — THE AUTHOR DEMOCRATIC — WAR 
SPIRIT, ETC. ETC. 

" Eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, 
And catch the manners living as they rise." 

Steadily watching the current of events, in the 
number of the 'Christian Banner' of June the 7th, 
1860, we wrote the following : — 

" Just think how easily politicians slide out of the 
minority into the majority party, in their respective 
counties, districts, &c. &c, and how easily they can 



20 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

slip back when the popular current turns. To-day, a 
fellow is fighting for life and death in one place to raise 
high the standard of Know-Nothingism, &c, and to 
crush out Democracy; and to-morrow he is in some 
other section, fighting like a tiger to crush Know- 
Nothingism, &c, and to raise the Democratic standard. 

"Since the failure of the Whig organization and 
administration, thousands upon thousands who were 
once rampant Whigs have taken shelter in the Demo- 
cratic ranks and fattened under the Democratic ad- 
ministration. Should the Democratic administration 
fail, thousands who belong to that party now will 
wheel right round and join in with the popular ad- 
ministration party, whatever it may be, and swear they 
were right all the time and acting perfectly consistent, 
but the dear people were such dolts as not to be able to 
understand and comprehend them and their principles. 

" Look round and think a moment. How many of 
the blustering, wrathy, frothy, sycophantic, disgusting 
Democratic demagogues who are now cutting up fan- 
tastic tricks sufficient to excite the scorn and contempt 
of all gentlemen and true patriots, were once as brain- 
less, unprincipled, and uncompromising Whigs ? The 
popular current turned, and they turned in with it. 
Yes ; and let the popular current turn again, and again 
they will turn in with it, — they'll slide in. They've 
1 slid' in, and they've *■ slid' out ; and they'll slide-in, 
and they'll slide out, just as often as there are great 
national political evolutions and they find it to their 
interest to keep on sliding and changing. 

"The people of these United States are gulled, duped, 
and led on to the very brink of political ruin by this ava- 
lanche of unprincipled political harpies, and seem to be 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 21 

reckless and perfectly indifferent as to the impending 
danger. When unprincipled men hold the reins of 
government, farewell to liberty, happiness, country, 
and all! Nor is this all. If a man of the party have 
the moral courage, the political honesty, the national 
patriotism, to expose the corruption and political in- 
trigues of the leaders, he is branded as a traitor and 
politically damned by the party. 

"Our country has approached a terrible crisis, and 
fallen on evil times. Jackson, Clay, Webster, and 
a host of others, who formed the mighty galaxy of our 
national glory, have passed away, and with them the 
happiness, tranquillity, and prosperity of our country ; 
and we fear it will not be long until our national liberty 
shall pass away also. 

" Democracy ! This is a powerful word. We love it. 
We heartily endorse the principle contained in it. Did 
you ever think of its true meaning, reader ? It comes 
from two beautiful Greek words, demos, the people, 
and kratos, power, sovereignty, and simply means power 
lodged in the people. Demokratia, a popular, or re- 
publican, government, — absolute power in, or belong- 
ing to, the people. 

" What true, patriotic American citizen can object to 
democracy when properly understood ? Let the sove- 
reign people rise up in all the majesty of their glory, 
and crush and crumble to atoms every system and 
platform that conflicts with the Constitution, harmony, 
prosperity, and perpetuity of our glorious country, and 
hurl all opposing isms into the whirlpool of deep, dark, 
and eternal oblivion." 

It is impossible for any lover of his country to con- 



22 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

ceive how very annoying it was to see the constant 
preparations for war, and to have the war-cry forever 
ringing in his ears, unless he were actually to realize 
it. And this, too, in time of peace and quietness. We 
constantly witnessed this state of things in Fredericks- 
burg during the year 1860, and the reader can form 
some faint idea of the state of affairs by reading the 
following brief editorial published in the " Christian 
Banner," June 7, I860 :— 



"AVAR SPIRIT. 

"The atmosphere, the very element in which we 
live, seems to be pregnant with the spirit of war. All 
the elementary principles of war, death, and carnage 
appear to be in lively exercise all over the world. 
Our exchanges come teeming in upon us filled with 
notices of riots and murders of every kind, and perpe- 
trated by all classes of men, and women too. 

" The very devil seems to be turned loose among the 
people. Battalions are being formed all through the 
South, and sublime and costly preparations for war are 
being made everywhere. The signs of the times in- 
dicate that the country is bent and determined on war 
at any and all hazards. Every political move points 
directly to war. Like a desolating pestilence, the dis- 
ease has infused itself into all classes, male and female, 
old and young. Even the little boys in our town, who 
have scarcely doffed their infant strings, have caught 
the war spirit and formed themselves into military 
companies, and perambulate the streets dressed out in 
uniform, with their banners floating before the breeze, 
their mock drums beating, and their imitation guns on 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 23 

their shoulders. All this they are permitted to do, to 
the great annoyance of the quiet, business part of the 
men of our town. Surely no people were ever more 
completely under the wild, wicked, and reckless in- 
fatuation of the devil than what the American people 
appear to be at the present time. Our country is de- 
mented ; we fear it is doomed. 

" The people seem to have taken it into their heads 
that there will be war, there must be war, and there 
shall be war. Well, if they will have it, and nothing 
but war will satisfy them, then let them have it and 
enjoy it to their hearts' content. No doubt but that 
many of those brave souls in time of peace who are so 
much bent and determined on war, when it actually 
comes, will be the first to dodge and hide in the bushes 
and brier-hedges, drop into gully-holes, or sneak off 
as deserters and traitors. Many of those fellows who 
are now so active in instigating war, if it come, will 
either have to fight or run ; and in either case they will 
be very apt to get killed. Poor laboring-men are not 
going to do all the fighting. Gentlemen will have to 
lend a helping hand, and perform some active part in 
the drama, before the scene winds up. 'Tis right and 
just that those who provoke and force war should die 
in the fight. 

" It may be that war is absolutely necessary at the 
present time, to purify the political and religious 
atmosphere of our country. Both state and church 
have become so corrupt that war, as an instrument to 
sweep off the agents of evil, may prove in the end the 
salvation of our country. A remnant of patriots and 
Christians, good and true, may survive the wreck 
and ruin, by and through whom our country and the 



24 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

church, in the good providence of God, may become 
regenerated and ultimately saved. The people must 
be taught humility and yield obedience to the statutes 
of Jehovah. War and pestilence may sometimes be as 
essential to the purification and salvation of a country 
as medicine is to the recovering of health and the 
salvation of diseased bodies. In the midst of all our 
present and approaching calamities, whatever they 
may be, or however severe, let us look unto God, and 
confide in his wisdom, goodness, and power. The 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth: let all the people 
rejoice in their King." 

Notwithstanding war-preparations were being made 
all over the South, the cry in Virginia was, " There is 
no danger of war," — while many confidently and con- 
stantly affirmed that there would be "no war," — the 
thing was impossible, — but still it was " well enough in 
time of peace to prepare for war." Companies were 
formed and drilled as a sort of pastime, and to give an 
air of military dignity and bearing to young men. 
We told them, and that, too, honestly, constantly, and 
faithfully, that they would get their satisfaction of it 
before they were done with it ; but they laughed at our 
"wild notions," and scorned our kind admonitions, and 
mocked at our solemn warnings. We were sorry for 
the men, because we saw that a trap was laid to catch 
them, and we were convinced that the leaders would 
prove but too successful in their mighty efforts to en- 
snare the unwary youth and ignorant classes of the 
country. The noose of damnable treason was thrown 
around the necks of the poor, credulous men of the 
South, and the ropes were drawn tighter and tighter, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 25 

until strangulation and death have ended the sufferings 
of unknown thousands. The Southern heart was " fired 
up," and men were drawn gradually into the horrible 
vortex of ruin before they had even suspected danger. 
The uniform, with all its pretty buttons, shoulder-straps, 
and stripes, was bewitching, and thousands became 
wildly infatuated with the charm. The women, and 
especially the young girls, were wonderfully delighted 
with the "beautiful uniforms," and the young men 
donned in uniform were much more popular with the 
girls than young men dressed out in plain citizen's 
clothing. This stimulated others to join companies 
and don the uniform also. Thus the work went on 
gradually, — every thing tending to a sure and certain 
rebellion against the Federal Government. 



CHAPTER IV. 



In the number of the " Christian Banner " of June the 
28th, 1860, we wrote the following article : — 

" Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dem<entat. 

"Whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad, 
or deprives of reason. 

" Reader, is not this peculiarly applicable to the dele- 
gates of the late Charleston and Baltimore Democratic 
Conventions ? Men delegated by the sovereign people 
to meet and deliberate on a nation's destiny, to cut up 
such fantastic tricks as not only to prove themselves 
demented, but to create disgust and loathing in the 



26 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

hearts of all patriotic outsiders ! We have been 
gravely asked wheie the 'burst up' of the Demo- 
cratic Convention at Baltimore has left us. So far as 
the actions of the factionists are concerned, we are left 
just nowhere. So far as our own conviction of princi- 
ples is concerned, we are just where we have always 
been, — a firm, uncompromising , Constitutional Demo- 
crat. We have, however, always been convinced of 
the absolute importance, for the perpetuity and pros- 
perity of our Government, that there should exist at 
least two great political parties, who shall alternately 
wield the affairs of state. And we do devoutly hope 
that two such parties will now be created. 

"That secession is the grand stepping-stone to dis- 
union, or rather disunion itself, we presume none will 
deny. If gentlemen are determined on dividing the 
Union, let them do it. The sooner the better, if it 
must be done. But the sword of retributive justice 
will fall heavily on their own heads. If this Union be 
dissolved, and civil war comes, — and come it will, and 
come it must, — these gentlemen will have to do some 
tall fighting, as certainly as God rules the universe. 
Bemember this, will you?" 

That the leaders in the Breckinridge party at the 
South had resolved on the overthrow of the Govern- 
ment, in the event that they could not rule it, we sup- 
pose, has long since become a settled fact in the minds 
of most of the American people. Their whole course 
of action since their defeat proves that this was their 
original determination. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED, 27 



CHAPTER V. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of July 
the 26th, I860, we wrote the following : — 

" The whole political and ecclesiastical world is, at 
this moment, in a state of wild commotion. The waters 
are troubled ; the dark waves of mighty revolutions 
are rolling heaven-high and spreading the wide world 
over ; political associations and parties are everywhere 
being disbanded ; governments are already being over- 
turned, producing great revolutions and undergoing 
ominous mutations. 

"Our own happy country has passed through her 
palmiest days ; her glory is departing, and will soon be 
gone, and gone forever, unless God in mercy stays the 
impending ruin. The Constitution is holy, just, and 
good, but politicians are corrupt, base, and vile, and, 
beneath the weight of accumulated guilt, they blindly 
seek their own destruction and the ruin of us all. To 
carry out their own malevolent designs, they would 
sever the Union, fill our country with blood and flame, 
and reckon their own promotion, their own glory, a 
sufficient atonement for all the common ruin. 

" Will freemen — American citizens, over whose heads 
the banner of freedom has waved so long — now submit 
to the will and ambition of petty tyrants, and passively 
receive upon their necks the yoke of worse than 
British despotism? Think, reader, for God's sake 
think, and, while you think, swear in your heart that, 



28 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

upon the altar of your God and country, you will 
yield your life a sacrifice rather than this thing shall 
be ! Our country, — our whole country, — thank God, is 
yet in the hands of the people ! Let not petty tyrants 
wrest it from them ; let the devil take the man, or 
men, who shall ever be the instruments in the downfall 
and ruin of this glorious Republic." 

"Let the devil take the man, or men," &c. &c. This 
expression was caught at by our enemies and handled 
very ingeniously to our injury. Some said it was right 
down swearing, — absolutely wicked and profane. What 
do men now think of it ? Look at all the horrors with 
which secession has cursed our whole country, and then 
say it is wicked and profane for the sufferers to say, 
"let the devil take the man, or men," who have been 
directly instrumental in bringing all these curses upon 
us. This war has sent thousands of souls in an unpre- 
pared state into eternity ; it is to a very great extent 
demoralizing the people of the whole nation, both in 
and out of the armies. It has filled a nation with 
mourning, lamentation, deep, heart-felt sorrow and woe; 
it has made and will make thousands of widows and 
millions of orphans. It has blasted and blighted the hopes 
and fairest prospects of millions of men and women ; 
it has paralyzed the influence of the Bible and Chris- 
tianity all over the country. In a word, it has damned 
a nation, at least for the time being. And yet it is 
wicked and profane for a minister to say, "let the devil 
take the man, or men/' who have caused a nation to 
weep, a nation's heart to bleed ! 

Men who are incapable of reasoning from cause to 
effect, and never once suspicioned the game of deep 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 29 

villany and unparalleled rascality that was about being 
played out upon them, could readily see a world of sin 
in the simple but emphatic expression, " Let the devil 
take the man, or men," who would sacrifice the lives 
of thousands and the happiness of millions on the altar 
of their own wicked, ungodly ambition. We said this 
long before the war commenced, and we said it, be- 
cause, reasoning from cause to effect, we knew what 
would certainly come to pass " in the event of certain 
contingencies," which was a very common saying with 
a certain class of politicians about the time we made 
the remark. We positively knew that secession would 
produce revolution ; that revolution would inaugurate 
civil war ; that civil war would ultimately annihilate 
the institution of African slavery, and dissolve society, 
and introduce infinities of curses and evils upon the 
whole nation and the civilized world. We saw all these 
evils in the distant future, and tried to save our coun- 
try from them ; for the doing of which, we received 
in turn for our kindness the reproaches of many and 
curses of some of our fellow-citizens, and are now in 
the midst of strangers, a refugee from our home and 
from those whom we love and with whom we have 
lived, and for whom we would die, if the sacrificing of 
our life would convince them of their error and save 
them from ruin. 

3* 



30 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FUSION OF POLITICAL PARTIES URGED — IF THEY DO NOT, 
THEY ARE REPREHENSIBLE — PEACEABLE SECESSION IM- 
POSSIBLE SEPARATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY — 

SEPARATION OF THE M. E. CHURCH. 

Having been urged by a number of correspondents 
to give our views on the subject of the political affairs 
of our country, in the number of the " Christian Ban- 
ner" of August 23, I860, under the head of " Random 
Thoughts Shot at a Venture," we wrote and published 
the following leading editorial, which we give entire: — 

" Dear reader, if you have learned to think like a 
man, we are not afraid to write. We are willing to 
abide your verdict. Correspondents solicit us to write 
on a number of subjects. Courtesy demands that we 
shall notice them. This we must do under the head of 
1 Random Thoughts.' Our answers to inquiries will 
be brief. 

" How or where to begin, we scarcely know. As 
the salvation of our country, however, is paramount to 
any and all other subjects which call in requisition the 
thinking faculties of our fellow-citizens, we will notice 
it first. We shall express our views fearlessly, let re- 
sults be what they may. 

" We think it highly probable that there will be a 
speedy dissolution of this Union. A large portion of 
the South is fully committed on the question of seces- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 31 

sion, in the event that Lincoln is elected President of 
these United States. We think that chances at pre- 
sent are altogether favorable to his election. If the De- 
mocratic parties would coalesce and centre on one man, 
Lincoln's defeat would be almost certain. This, how- 
ever, we can hardly hope for, as matters now stand. 

" If the Democratic parties and the Unionists would 
unite on one man, the Black Republicans would cer- 
tainly be defeated, and the salvation of our country 
would be preserved, at least for the present. If all the 
candidates remain in the field, it is reduced to almost a 
mathematical certainty that neither Bell nor any one 
of the Democratic candidates can be elected. They 
mutually weaken the force of each other, and strengthen 
the Black Republican party. Is this wisdom? Is it 
patriotic? It is neither. 

" Would not the Government be safe, and the Union 
preserved, in the event of the election either of Bell or 
of any one of the Democratic candidates ? We firmly 
believe they would. Then, the salvation of our country 
is now in the hands of these parties. They can save 
the Union, if they will. All must admit this. If they 
can save it, and will not, then let them be anathema 
maranatha. 

" They are like those bigoted religionists who would 
rather blow up all heaven, and let the devil take the 
whole, than that men should go to heaven in any other 
way than that which they prescribe. Are they not ? Is 
this the spirit by which the leaders of these parties are 
influenced ? From present appearances, it would seem 
so. No one can question the happy results of & fusion of 
all these political parties,— the preservation of the Union, 
and the salvation of our country. On the other hand, if 



32 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

they remain antagonistic, as they now are, the results 
are inevitable, — a dissolution of the Union, the destruc- 
tion of our country, and civil war. It cannot be other- 
wise, if gentlemen are earnest and sincere in their de- 
clarations, and carry out what they say they will if a 
Black Bepublican be elected. 

Ui Suppose Lincoln shall be elected, and the Union 
should dissolve : can there not be an amicable secession 
and a peaceable separation?' 'Amicable secession and 
a peaceable separation!' Heavens! what an idea! 
What man of sense can for a moment believe it ? 

" Was it an amicable secession and a peaceable sepa- 
ration when the colonies of these United States seceded 
from the usurpation of British tyranny? Was it an 
amicable secession and a peaceable separation when the 
Southern Methodist Conferences seceded from the 
Northern Conferences ? Was it peaceable between 
these two great ecclesiastical bodies? Was it peace- 
able all along the border line? Was it peaceable in 
Fredericksburg ? Let their belligerent records answer 
the question. Let their pugnacious editors, the belli- 
gerent effusions of their newspapers, the incendiary 
harangues of their clerical stump-speakers, their crimi- 
nations and recriminations, and their long and malig- 
nant litigations, answer the question. 

" If bishops, elders, deacons, and sanctified Christians 
cannot secede and separate peaceably, in the name of 
heaven, how can it be supposed that any portion of this 
great Confederacy of States, with its thousands of 
totally corrupt politicians at its head, can secede and 
separate peaceably ? Blot out the sun from the firma- 
ment of heaven, and then tell us that we still enjoy 
light and heat ! Annihilate the Constitution of these 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 33 

United States, dissolve this glorious Union, riddle 
the 'Star-Spangled Banner' of our liberty, peace, and 
safety into infinite fragments, and then, madman ! 
point us to the goal of peace and safety ! 

''Was there an amicable secession and a peaceable 
separation of the National Democratic Convention at 
Charleston? Was there an amicable secession and a 
peaceable separation at the adjourned Democratic Con- 
vention in Baltimore? Do the parties manifest an 
amicable and pacific spirit towards each other now ? 
If there has ever been a time since the organization of 
this Government when the element of brotherly love 
and patriotism should do its work in cementing the 
hearts of brethren and uniting all to the Constitution 
of our blessed country, now is the time. Yes, now, 
when the storm is gathering, and the awful cloud 
looms up in terrible grandeur, threatening sudden and 
universal destruction to us all, to be divided among 
ourselves and act with hostility the one to the other 
is an awful sin against God, our country, our families, 
our wives and children, the whole world, and ourselves. 

"That civil war will be the necessary, legitimate, 
and unconditional result of a dissolution of this 
Union, no reflecting, well-informed mind can question 
for a moment. Nor is this all. The work of war and 
death once commenced, the spirit will diffuse itself 
everywhere and into all classes. Kindle the fire, and 
from ten thousand sources fuel will be gathered, to 
increase the raging conflagration, until the smoke and 
flames in awful volumes shall roll heaven-high, deso- 
lating every thing in its onward course. And, more- 
over, it should be borne in mind that, in the event of 
a dissolution of the Union and civil war, thousands 



34 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

upon thousands will naturally ask themselves the all- 
important question, ' For what are we fighting. For 
our country?' No: we have no country: it is lost in 
the deep, dark vortex of political corruption. ' For 
what are we fighting ? For liberty ?' No : the canvas 
of our Stars and Stripes is torn into a thousand frag- 
ments and wafted to the four winds of heaven, and 
our liberty is wrested from us. ' Whom are we fight- 
ing ? A foreign enemy ?' No : our brothers, our 
sons, our fathers, our own countrymen. ' What shall 
we gain if we achieve the victory? Liberty, peace, 
prosperity, and happiness ?' No : these have all been 
violently and basely wrested from us by despotic poli- 
ticians, who, as soon as we have fought their battles 
and gained the victory, will place the iron heel of petty 
despotism on our necks and will grind us into dust. 

"Are these considerations calculated to nerve the 
arm of the warrior to strike down the father, the son, 
the brother, and the citizen ? Answer us, will you ? 
In the Revolutionary struggle our fathers fought for 
their country and for liberty. In a struggle such as 
we have been anticipating, no such motives can fire up 
the soul and inspire courage in the actors. Traitors 
and deserters by thousands will spring up everywhere, 
and those who are permanently located and have pro- 
perty to defend and interests at stake will find them- 
selves surrounded by enemies on every hand, when it 
will be too late to avert the awful ruin. Remember 
this, you who would damn the purest form of govern- 
ment that has ever existed, and the happiest country 
the world has ever known. 

"If the Democratic parties will not unite with each 
other and defeat the Black Republican party, we would 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 35 

then advise the Unionists and any one of the Demo- 
cratic parties to unite on one man, and, if possible, move 
heaven and earth to secure his election, and thus defeat 
the Black Eepublicans. 

" We are asked if under any circumstances we 
would vote for Bell. We answer yes. If there 
shall be one chance in nine hundred and ninety-nine 
thousand of his election over Lincoln, we will go our 
whole soul for him. 'But he is not a Democrat.' No 
matter whether he has the name of Democrat or not. 
Is he a sound constitutional man ? Will his election 
calm the boiling whirlpool of political agitation and 
strife, and secure the salvation of the Union ? What 
citizen, we ask, who loves his country, would refuse to 
vote for such a man simply because he has not the name 
Democrat ? 

11 Democrat! Who are Democrats? And where are 
they? Suppose we vote for Breckinridge? He is a 
Democrat. Then the Douglas party would denounce 
us as a disunionist. Suppose we vote for Douglas ? He 
is a Democrat. Then the Breckinridge party would 
denounce us as an Abolitionist. So, under such cir- 
cumstances, what are we to do ? ■ What are we to do ?' 
We shall do just as we please, and ask no man any 
odds : that's the ' upshot' of the whole affair. Our 
country first, last, and forever ! And may laurels, 
imperishable as the duration of eternity, wreathe the 
brow of him who shall be instrumental in its salvation ! 
May God in mercy lend a helping hand to the party 
that is working for the peace, prosperity, and salvation 
of our country, the blessed nursing mother of us all ! 

" Finally, 'suppose Lincoln shall be elected: what 
then?' Let him take his seat, and, if he act well his 



36 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

part, continue until his term expires. If he shall violate 
his constitutional rights, let him be dealt with accord- 
ingly. What else can be done ?" 

And now, reader, we must close this chapter, having 
extended our remarks on this subject far beyond what 
we intended; but it is a subject which fires up our whole 
soul. What is life without a happy, peaceful home? 
And how can this be enjoyed without a happy, peaceful 
country? It cannot. But we must close, and leave 
other questions for future chapters. 

We urged a fusion of the Bell and Douglas parties 
because there was no material issue of any important 
character between them so far as we could observe. They 
seemed to harmonize throughout. The Douglas electors 
argued that he was an uncompromising Union man, — 
that he was the regular nominee of the National Demo- 
cratic party, — that he had done more, suffered more, 
and had been more reviled for the support he had given 
to the South than any other living man. The only 
objection to his political principles appeared to be his 
devotion to what was termed " Squatter Sovereignty." 
He was eulogized by the Bell electors, and Bell was 
lauded by the Douglas electors. Hence it seemed 
strange to us that these two parties would not coalesce 
for the sake of saving the Union; especially when the 
electors of both these parties denounced the Breckin- 
ridge party as disunionists. 

The electors of the Breckinridge party in Virginia 
indignantly repelled the charge of being disunionists, 
unless "in the event of certain contingencies," which, 
in plain English, simply meant, If Lincoln is elected then 
we will secede; or, unless we are successful, we will 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 37 

break up the Government. They were exceedingly 
cautious on this question, for fear the party might lose 
influence. Yancey and Newton had already avowed 
themselves as being disunionists, out they were " iso- 
lated exceptions ;" they were by no means the proper 
and fair " exponents" of the party. It was our devo- 
tion to the Union, and our very soul's desire that our 
country might be saved, that influenced us to urge a 
fusion of any two or of all three of these parties. We 
felt that we were willing to make any sacrifice for the 
salvation of the country, and we thought that others 
ought to do the same. They think so, too, now. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE "NIGGER!" "NIGGER!" "NIGGER!" — WAR-CRY FOR 
POLITICAL PURPOSES — POLITICIANS GREAT KNAVES, ETC. 
ETC. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of Septem- 
ber 13, 1860, under the head of " Random Thoughts," 
we wrote and published the following : — 

" "We are tired, disgusted, and sickened out with this 
' nigger' question. In every political speech, in every 
newspaper, at the corner of every street, in social circles, 
at churches, in prayer-meetings, in parlors, in kitchens, 
in workshops, and barber-shops, and everywhere else 
where two or three are met together, the ' nigger' topic 
is first, last, and forever. We want a stop put to it. 
Can it be done ? We trust in God that this question 



38 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

will soon be settled and silenced forever. Men talk 
about it; boys talk about it; women talk about it; girls 
talk about it; negroes talk about it; and everybody 
talks about it; and they talk everywhere, without pru- 
dence or any sort of discretion whatever. 

"If we had talked, when a boy, as everybody talks 
now on this subject, if our voice could not have been 
silenced in any other way, we verily believe our tongue 
would have been pulled out of our mouth. The times 
have changed, and the people have changed, and it 
seems that the very seasons themselves have changed, 
and the whole world appears to be undergoing changes. 

"Some say that all the noise that has been made and 
is now being made about dissolving the Union is ' child's 
talk,'— that there is no danger of a dissolution of the 
Union,— that the cry of dissolution of the Union has 
been gotten up for political purposes. Is it possible ? 
Can it be possible that all this strife, and war, and 
noise, and excitement all over the country is gotten up 
by politicians for political ends? If this be true, poli- 
ticians are a set of greater knaves and scoundrels than 
we had even supposed. Whether they design the dis- 
solution of the Union or not, or whether the Union will 
be dissolved or not, their course of conduct is working 
fearful results all over our country. 

"If there be no danger of a dissolution of the Union, 
then great men and statesmen, the leaders of the masses 
of the people, have made a long, loud, terrible, and 
thundering fuss, simply to ignore their claim to public 
confidence in all time to come. They merit the execra- 
tions of a brave, intelligent, free, and patriotic people. 

" Was the John Brown raid a political stratagem ? Is 
the Texas excitement a political trick ? Are all the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 39 

insurrectionary moves, all the rebellions and murders, 
which have taken place all over the South, political 
manoeuvrings to dupe and deceive the good and quiet 
citizens of our country ? Who believes it ? Who 
can believe it ? Be not deceived, fellow-citizens. That 
there is danger, — imminent danger, — no man of sense 
can deny ! Yes, there is danger, and a fearful danger, 
of precipitating this country, this whole country, this 
country of our forefathers, this country of ours, this 
country which we had hoped to bequeath to our chil- 
dren, into one of the most terribly awful revolutions 
the world has ever witnessed ! Yes : and the sin of it 
all will fall on the heads of corrupt politicians and 
designing preachers, who have been, and now are, 
leading the great masses of the people captive at their 
will ! Is not this so ? Think ! will you ? 

" Some say the design of the cotton States is to dis- 
solve the Union at all hazards, and reopen the African 
slave-trade. Now, reader, mark what we say. If 
this Union be dissolved and a Southern Confederacy 
formed, the cotton States will soon find that they have 
already as many negroes as they want, — as many as 
they can safely manage. Eemember this, will you? 
The institution of African slavery and the prosperity 
and glory of the South are destined to fall together : 
they are doomed! 

" We are gravely told by politicians that this whole 
question of intervention and non-intervention by Con- 
gress is simply a political abstraction, — a mere politi- 
cal dogma. Is it possible that pure, honest-hearted, 
patriotic politicians will plunge their whole country 
into fatal revolution on a mere political abstraction, — 
a worthless, political dogma ? Is it possible that they 



40 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

will even hazard their country's welfare — her final des- 
tiny — on an abstraction, a useless dogma? Of what 
practical importance is the Congressional intervention 
and non-intervention questiion at present? If this 
whole question be nothing more than an abstraction, a 
mere political dogma, why so much fuss about no- 
thing ? 

"If there be, in fact, the danger of a dissolution of 
the Union, as anticipated by many in the event of the 
election of Mr. Lincoln, would it not be patriotic in 
two of the three candidates to withdraw their names 
from the contest, entirely ? Would not such a course 
immortalize them through all time in the hearts of the 
American people ? Suppose Douglas was to withdraw 
his name from the contest, and say, ' Fellow-citizens, 
I fear that by having so many candidates in the field 
we shall all defeat ourselves and elect a common 
enemy, and thereby hazard the safety and salvation 
of the Union. Therefore I withdraw my name, and 
shall throw all my influence on the strongest candidate, 
— whether he be Bell or Breckinridge, — and thus try 
to defeat our common enemy.' An act so magnani- 
mous and patriotic, at such a crisis as the present, 
would immortalize Douglas, and make the people love 
him, whether they had wished to do so or not. If Mr. 
Douglas, Breckinridge, or Bell were to act thus, their 
election in 1864 and 1868 — first the one and then the 
other — would be almost certain, should they live and 
run for the Presidency. It would not be necessary for 
them to make electioneering speeches. The people 
would speak for them at the polls. 

"No matter who is elected President of these United 
States, it is not necessary that the Union shall be 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 41 

divided. In the event of the election of Mr. Lincoln, 
suppose the Representatives of any of the States were 
to say, ' We won't serve.' Then, what? Then, let the 
people elect others who will serve. True, it might throw 
things into a state of temporary confusion. But what 
of that ? It would be nothing in comparison to a disso- 
lution of the Union. One thing is reduced to a cer- 
tainty : if all three of the candidates — Bell, Breckin- 
ridge, and Douglas — remain in the field, neither one 
of the three can be elected by the people. Therefore, 
all the stump-speaking and time and labor lost by them 
and their friends are just so much thrown away." 

The result of the election is well known to the 
American people, and the fate of the three opposing 
candidates — Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas — is also 
well known to the American people. Poor Douglas — 
with all his natural and acquired abilities, with all 
his devoted patriotism and fidelity to the South — has 
fallen. His country has lost one of her most talented 
and patriotic sons. Peace to his ashes, and glory to his 
memory ! 

Bell and Breckinridge have both turned traitors to 
their country; and their names will go down to pos- 
terity steeped in national treason and covered with 
political infamy. 



4* 



42 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

TERRIBLE REVOLUTION PREDICTED — FUSION OF POLITICAL 
PARTIES URGED — WHY THE AUTHOR ATTENDS POLITICAL 
MEETINGS — INFERNAL PLOT OF TREASON — ARE WISE, 
SMITH, SEDDON, ETC., TRAITORS, ETC.? SERVILE INSUR- 
RECTIONS PREDICTED, ETC. ETC. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of Sep- 
tember 27, 1860, under the head of " Random Thoughts 
Shot at a Venture/' we wrote the following leading 
editorial : — 

" Great God, reader, we are astonished beyond mea- 
sure ! The whole world is rolling on through immea- 
surable space, and all nature, animate and inanimate, 
rational and irrational, the whole body politic, and 
every particle, separately and singly, seem convulsed 
from centre to circumference. 

" That the whole world is on the fearful brink of a 
terribly sublime revolution, we do not entertain a 
doubt. As to the results of the maddening question 
which is now agitating every heart in this great and 
grand country of ours, the least we can do is simply to 
give our opinion, as many of our readers have earnestly 
solicited us to do. This, in part, is our apology for 
the matter contained in this chapter of 'Random 
Thoughts.' 

" To begin : — There are now four candidates before 
the American people begging popular suffrage for the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 43 

Presidency of these United States. The friends of 
Lincoln, the Black Republican candidate, are moving 
heaven and earth to secure his election. We think it 
more than probable, unless a fusion of other par- 
ties take place, that Lincoln will be elected by the 
popular vote of the people. Neither Bell, Breckin- 
ridge, nor Douglas can be elected by the popular vote 
of the people, if all three candidates remain in the 
field. This is & fixed fact, which the most obtuse intel- 
lect cannot mistake. If, therefore, neither Bell, Douglas, 
nor Breckinridge can be elected by the people if all 
three continue candidates, and if these parties actually 
believe that the election of Lincoln will consummate 
a dissolution of the Union, why, as patriots and friends 
of the Union, do they not unite their influence on one 
man, and thus defeat Lincoln and save the Union ? 
They remind us of certain stubborn, refractory persons 
who would break up and destroy the peace and har- 
mony of heaven itself, unless they can have things 
their own way. What pleasure can it be to all three 
of these parties simply to defeat one another ? They'll 
'cut off their noses to spite their faces.' They'll 
achieve great victories and win immortal honors, will 
they ? Mark what we say. If they persist in their 
reckless, ruinous course, the career of their political 
glory will wind up at the close of the present Presi- 
dential canvass, — and that, too, with the election of Mr. 
Lincoln ! Who will hereafter trust men who, without 
any just cause, will jeopardize the peace, harmony, and 
salvation of a whole nation ? None but madmen ! 

" 'Why/ we are asked, 'do we attend political meet- 
ings?' First, because we feel deeply interested in the 
final result of this political struggle, and wish to 



44 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

thoroughly understand the principles and true positions 
of the parties. Secondly, because we wish to be able 
to advise our readers correctly, which we cannot do if 
we are ignorant on these subjects ourself. Thirdly, 
because we love to hear 'smart' men 'talk/ whether 
we agree with them or not. 

" 'Well, what's the difference between them? What's 
the great bone of contention?' What? Why, the 
almost invisible shade of a shadow, — intervention, or 
non-intervention I 

"Congress cannot constitutionally legislate slavery 
into a State or Territory, nor can she legislate it out. 
She can only protect it where it exists by the organic 
law of the State or Territory. Congress cannot legis- 
late slavery into the State of Ohio, nor can she legis- 
late it out of Virginia. It is all a ' fuss kicked up' 
about nothing. There is not a single Federal question 
or principle of any importance introduced into the 
canvass by any one of the parties as an issue between 
them. 

" The great question is this : — Shall the South continue 
her 'social existence' or not? In other words, shall 
the institution of slavery be perpetuated, and shall 
slave territory be extended, or not ? We have listened 
to able addresses from Douglas, Breckinridge, and 
Bell electors, and have tried to analyze the specific 
difference between them all. The Bell and Douglas 
men seem to harmonize throughout. Bell electors 
eulogize Douglas to the very heavens, but charge the 
Breckinridge party with the awful sin of being dis- 
unionists, bent and determined on breaking up and 
dissolving this glorious Confederacy of States. Douglas 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 45 

electors charge on the Breckinridge party the same 
design. 

"Do the Douglas and Bell parties actually believe in 
their hearts, or do they honestly believe, that the Breck- 
inridge party is composed of disunionists ? Or is this 
a political stratagem to widen the breach between the 
Douglas and Breckinridge parties for the purpose of 
so far weakening the Breckinridge party as to defeat 
Breckinridge in Virginia and to secure the State for 
Bell ? Every vote that shall be cast for Douglas will 
weaken the Breckinridge party, and give strength to 
Bell. Why ? Because there is no possible chance for 
Douglas to gain Virginia. Why, then, throw away 
votes on him ? 

" Why will not the Douglas men, if they are so fear- 
ful of a dissolution of the Union and believe that the 
object and aim of the Breckinridge party is to break 
up and dissolve the Union, unite with the Bell party 
at once, and make sure of his election so far as the 
vote of Virginia is concerned ? And, again, why will 
not the Bell party unite with the Douglas party, if 
they have the exalted opinion of Douglas which they 
say they have? In either case, the vote of Virginia 
would be cast for a sound conservative, constitutional 
candidate, according to the acknowledgments of each 
one of these parties. 

" Why is it, then, in fearful and critical times like the 
present, that these two parties, harmonizing as they do, 
will not fuse at once, and set the noble example for 
other sister States to follow ? 

"Look at it, reader, will you ? If the Bell and Doug- 
las parties throughout the United States would unite 
either on Bell or Douglas, they could and certainly 



46 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

would defeat the l disunionists' of the South and the 
Black Kepublicans of the North. Will they do it ? 

"If they see the deep, dark, ' hellish' plot to dissolve 
the Union, and can defeat the 'infernal' design of 
these 'black-hearted traitors,' and will not do it, are 
they any better than the disunionists themselves ? An 
enemy has our infant child in his hands, preparing to 
precipitate it down an awful precipice; we have the 
power to arrest the enemy and save our child from 
ruin, but refuse to do it : are we any better than he 
•who actually commits the deed ? 

" Look at it, will you ? Here are two large political 
parties, each avowing that they believe a third political 
party in their very midst is plotting and scheming a 
conspiracy against our common country, which, if con- 
summated, will inevitably involve all parties and our 
whole country in irretrievable ruin, and these two 
parties by uniting their undivided forces and influence 
can defeat the whole scheme and save all parties and 
the whole country from ruin ; and still they refuse to 
do it ! Can they be sincere in what they say ? If so, 
can they be regarded as patriots ? 

"Think, will you? This is a grave subject, — one 
with which no man can trifle with impunity. We say 
nothing against either of these two parties. We look 
at the whole subject impartially, free from all prejudice, 
and we earnestly hope our readers will do the same. 
However much we may admire either Bell or Douglas, 
or both, as statesmen, we love and admire our country 
more. 

"But is it a fixed fact, is the case clearly made out, 
that the Breckinridge party are determined on dis- 
solving the Union ? If so, can it be possible that such 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 47 

men as Governor Wise, Governor Smith, Hunter, Sed- 
den, and a host of others whom we could name, are 
ignorant of the deep-laid scheme to dissolve the Union? 
If they are not ignorant of the 'infernal' plot, and 
know it to exist, can it be possible that they will be- 
come accomplices in a work which, if accomplished, 
will damn them politically, ruin them financially, and 
annihilate their social existence ? Is it possible that 
they are such consummate fools as not to be able to see 
the results? and, if they see them, can they be so wicked 
and reckless as to persist in a course which must in- 
evitably end in death, and the common ruin of us all, 
and the ruin of our whole country? 

"Look at it, will you? If the cotton States are so 
blind and infatuated as to believe it would be to their 
financial interest to dissolve the Union and establish a 
Southern Confederacy and reopen the African slave- 
trade, it cannot possibly be to the interest of Virginia. 
So far from it, it would involve her in universal and 
irretrievable bankruptcy. If cotton-planters could 
obtain laboring -hands from Africa for one hundred 
dollars per head, they would never think of paying 
Virginians from five hundred to two thousand dollars 
per head for laborers ! Think of that, will you ? Vir- 
ginians have no large cotton, rice, and sugar planta- 
tions to cultivate. What then becomes of her negroes ? 
And they increase like rabbits ! Where will you send 
them? Nowhere; for there will be no market for 
them. What can you get for them ? Comparatively 
nothing. They shall be sold, and, in fact, no man shall 
buy them. The insignificant sum which they would 
command would not be regarded as any price at all. 

"Think, will you? In case of insubordination, re- 



48 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

bellion, and insurrection, what would be the result? 
The whole of the cotton States would be flooded with 
transported Africans and native negroes, and there 
would be, in all probability, in many sections fifty, if 
not one hundred, negroes for every white man. Then, 
what? Is the reader so blind as not to see, what? 
'Send for help.' Where? To the North? Think 
you that the North would come to the rescue of the 
South in such emergencies to suppress negro insurrec- 
tions ? No : there would be no help obtained from any 
of the free States. This is a fixed fact. 'Send to 
Virginia.' The idea is ludicrous! Send to Virginia 
for help, when she is crowded with like enemies and 
subject to like dangers? What man of sense and 
feeling would leave his own wife and children unpro- 
tected to go to the rescue of strangers abroad? Pause 
and think, reader ! This is a terribly fearful subject 
to contemplate ! 

" Nor is this all. Men living in the same counties 
and adjacent counties would not leave their own 
houses willingly to go to aid others, knowing that 
their own families were unprotected and in danger 
every hour. We are giving no fancy sketch, nor false 
coloring to this subject. We are only stating facts, 
which will certainly be realized in the event of a dis- 
solution of the Union. 

" ' But we have the fullest confidence in our negroes.' 
You have! Well, then, we are frank to confess that 
we have not. ' Oh,' say some, ' our negroes are 
loyal: they would die by us and for us.' Yes : think, 
will you? Jones's negroes would not kill Jones, but 
they despise Smith, and will murder him ; and Smith's 
negroes would not take Smith's life, but they despise 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 49 

Jones, and will murder him and his family, and burn 
up his property. Do you not see? These horrible 
tragedies will be acted out if the Union be dissolved. 

"'But this is all fancy-work.' Dissolve the Union, 
and you will soon see whether it is fancy or reality. 
The fact is, there is no confidence to be placed in the 
negroes at such times and under such circumstances. 
And the South, instead of bringing more and more 
negroes into her territories, would be very willing to 
have them all back in Africa under any circumstances. 
Remember this! 

"Think, will you? Precisely in proportion to the 
increase of negroes and their decline in value would 
the labor of white men decrease. Who would give a 
white man one hundred dollars per annum to work his 
farm, if he could get a negro man for fifty dollars per 
annum to do the same work ? No one. As the coun- 
try would become glutted with negroes, the laboring 
class of white men would be forced to seek new homes. 
"Again, much reliance seems by many to be placed 
in laboring white men, in case of danger, who never 
have been, and who never expect to be, the owners of 
slaves. So far as the fidelity to the South (or to the 
institution of slavery) is concerned of this class of men, 
we are bold to confess that we have but little faith in 
them when it comes to fighting about negroes. They 
will be for taking care of themselves, and will leave 
slave-holders to defend themselves as best they can, in 
the hour of danger. We have but little confidence in 
the great majority of this class of the people of the 
South in a war for the perpetuity of slavery and the 
extension of slave territory. Men who have neither 
land nor negroes, and are treated and looked down on 



50 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

with contempt by these lordly cotton, rice, and sugar 
'planters, will hardly put their own lives in danger to 
protect those who have never treated them with even 
common respect. Header, think, will you? This is a 
practical article. No theory about it. 

" In view of all these facts, can it be possible that 
there are slave-holders in Virginia, and in our very 
midst, who are working for a dissolution of this Union? 
If they wish such a result, they certainly cannot be 
sane. If, therefore, Breckinridge men in Virginia are 
disunionists, for God's sake let them openly avow 
themselves. We say nothing against either the Bell, 
Douglas, or Breckinridge party, nor shall we, until 
we perceive their ultimate designs. And we would 
advise all our readers not to be too hasty in jumping 
to conclusions and committing themselves too soon in 
this canvass. 

" Our own opinion may be very different to-morrow, 
a week, or a month hence, from what it is to-day. 
We have neither declared ourself for Bell, Douglas, 
nor for Breckinridge. We have thrown out these 
hints for the benefit of our readers, who are not blessed 
with the facilities of reading many of the newspapers 
of the day. As we have said before, we now repeat, 
that, if we vote at all, we shall cast our vote for the 
man whom we think most likely to carry the State of 
Virginia, and thus far defeat the election of Mr. 
Lincoln. 

"As to our opinion about Lincoln's administration 
if elected, we can only say that he may, or he may 
not, discharge the duties of his office to the satisfaction 
of the people of the United States. A nation's eye 
will be upon him and thoroughly scan his every official 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 51 

act. Should he discharge his duties, maintain and 
enforce the Constitution, it will be the duty of all 
parties to respect his administration, although they 
may have but little respect for the man. 

" And now, reader, we will close this article by ear- 
nestly entreating you to ponder this subject tho- 
roughly. Let passion and prejudice find no resting- 
place either in your mind or heart. Kemember, this is 
a subject in which your happiness and that of our 
whole country are involved. Say not that you will 
support either Bell, Breckinridge, or Douglas, under 
any and all circumstances. Bemain open to convic- 
tion until the very day before the election. Learn all 
you can, and, when you cast your vote, let it be done 
rationally, conscientiously, patriotically, fearlessly, and 
manly, and then if things do not turn out well you 
will have the peaceful assurance that you acted as you 
thought for the best. If you are a Douglas or a 
Breckinridge Democrat, and find that neither of these 
men can carry the State, and that chances are strong 
for Bell, then secure his election by casting your vote 
for him. If, however, you find that chances are strong 
against him, vote for the next strongest man. And 
so we would advise the Union or Bell party. This is 
the course on which we have determined, and we, 
therefore, advise our friends to do likewise. May 
God bless all the people, and save our country for- 
ever !" 

It will be observed that the one great idea and grand 
object with us was the preservation of the Union. 
That being paramount to any ana all other considera- 
tions, we thought every thing should bend and yield to 



52 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

that. All tlie electors of Bell, Douglas, and Breck- 
inridge denounced Lincoln as a " black-hearted, un- 
compromising Abolitionist," whose object and aim was, 
if elected, to make war on the institutions of the South, — 
that his long-cherished object was to abolish slavery in 
the South. Hence our uncompromising opposition to 
his election. The disunionists of some of the Southern 
States, particularly South Carolina, had avowed their 
determination to secede from the Union in the event 
of the election of Mr. Lincoln. This the Douglas and 
Bell parties " seemed perfectly to understand, and they 
charged this design upon the Breckinridge party in 
Virginia during the Presidential canvass. But the 
Breckinridge electors repelled the charge as a political 
slander, gotten up by the other parties out of which to 
make political capital. To us the idea seemed so pre-, 
posterously absurd and suicidal for Virginia to secede, 
that we could not believe that such men as Hunter, 
Wise, Smith, Sedden, &c. &c, would lend their influ- 
ence to accomplish a work so ruinous, so damnable to 
Virginia and every interest which she held near and 
dear on earth. Hence we asked, " Can it be possible 
that such men as Governor Wise, Governor Smith, 
Hunter, Sedden, and a host of others whom we could 
name, are ignorant of the deep-laid scheme to dissolve 
the Union ? If they are not ignorant of the ' infernal' 
plot, and know it to exist, can it be possible that they 
will become accomplices in a work which, if accom- 
plished, will damn them politically, ruin them finan- 
cially, and annihilate their social existence ? Is it pos- 
sible that they are such consummate fools, as not to 
be able to see the results ? And, if they see them, can 
they be so wicked and reckless as to persist in a course 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 53 

which must inevitably end in death, and the common 
ruin of us all, and that of our whole country ?" 

Subsequent developments convince us that all the 
leading politicians of the Breckinridge party at the 
South were privy to the " infernal" plot of conspiracy 
against the Eepublic, and had leagued together to 
break up the Government in the event that they were 
defeated in the election of Breckinridge. Had Breck- 
inridge been elected, and they remained in office, which 
they certainly would, then would there have been no 
secession, no revolution, and no civil war at the present 
time. Their motto was, Rule or ruin. 

What object had Floyd in view when sending such 
vast quantities of munitions of war all through the 
Southern States ? Was he not preparing the South for 
war in the event of " certain contingencies" ? And 
were not the leading politicians of the Breckinridge 
party at the South privy to the object and designs of 
his actions ? Had Floyd no advisers, aiders, nor abet- 
tors in this vast and responsible undertaking ? Did 
he assume the whole responsibility himself, having no 
specific object in view but simply to scatter broadcast 
the munitions of war all over the South ? Who can 
admit an idea so supremely absurd ? 

The " infernal" plot of treason against the Eepublic 
was long meditated, maturely digested, systematically 
planned, ingeniously infused into the minds and hearts 
of the people, and simultaneously acted out by the 
arch-leaders of the Gulf States. We look back upon 
the past, and analyze this whole subject, with loathing 
and disgust. Oh, the depth of wickedness developed 
in this infernal plot of treason against the Eepublic! 

Strange as it may seem to the reader, because of our 

5* 



54 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

devotion to the Union we were already marked by some 
as being a traitor to our own native, our own beloved 
South. Because of our devotion to the South, and the 
undying love we had for Virginia, the State of our 
adoption, we so earnestly and constantly opposed dis- 
union, and the damnable political heresy, secession. 
We knew that to destroy the whole was to destroy all 
its parts. The South was a part, and, with us 7 a very 
material part, of the Union ; and we knew that to de- 
stroy the whole Union was to destroy our part of the 
Union. And hence it was that we so earnestly and con- 
stantly plead against the destruction of the Union. If 
to oppose traitors, and expose treason against our be- 
loved country, constitute one a traitor to the South, 
then we plead guilty to the charge. It is useless to 
say that our devotion to the Union, and our untiring 
efforts to save the South, and especially Virginia, from 
ruin, cost us much. Patronage went from us like 
drifted snow beneath the rays of a vertical sun. But 
we heeded it not. We felt willing to sacrifice every 
thing, and life itself, if necessary, so that our country 
might be saved. And, so help us God, we had rather 
be a refugee, as we now are, from every local interest 
on earth, with all the odium of traitors heaped upon 
us, than to be Jeff Davis, with all the laurels that 
shall ever wreath his brow, and all the wealth of the 
whole Southern Confederacy. We love our country, 
our whole country, and the South in particular ; and 
for our country, and our particular part of it, we are 
now writing. 

" Much reliance seems by many to be placed in la- 
boring white men, in case of danger, who never have 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 55 

been and never expect to be the owners of slaves. So 
far as the fidelity to the South (or the institution of 
slavery) is concerned, of this class of men, we are bold 
to confess that we have but little faith in them when it 
comes to fighting about negroes. They will be for 
taking care of themselves, and will leave slave-holders 
to defend themselves as best they can, in the hour of 
danger. We have but little confidence in the great 
majority of this class of the people of the South in a 
war for the perpetuity of slavery and the extension of 
slave territory. Men who have neither land nor ne- 
groes, and are treated and looked down on with con- 
tempt by these lordly cotton, rice, and sugar planters, 
will hardly put their own lives in danger to protect 
those who have never treated them with even common 
respect." 

We deem it necessary to make a few remarks in 
explanation of the above, lest our views should be mis- 
construed by the reader. We have never questioned 
the loyalty and patriotism of the poor class of white 
men in the South, nor their devotion to their section 
of country. That they are as true patriots, and are as 
much devoted to their country, as the richer class of 
citizens, we suppose none will deny. But to fight and 
die for one's country, is one thing ; and to fight and die 
for the institution of African slavery, is quite another 
thing, and especially with those who have but little or 
no interest in its perpetuity, or the extension of its 
territory. 

In our calculations, above stated, we were not mis- 
taken. 

11 How is it, then, that so many poor men are in the 



56 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

Southern army ?" Thousands of them are not there 
of choice. In the commencement of the making up of 
and the organizing of the Southern army, men were 
told that their services would only be required for a 
few months ; that, in fact, there would be no war, 
and, to make the most of it, it would be nothing more 
than a holiday-frolic. Others were organized as Home- 
Guards, with assurances given to them that they should 
never leave their own neighborhoods or counties, and, 
in the event of war in reality, they would not be 
pressed into service, being already members of com- 
panies for home-protection. Thousands had no employ- 
ment, and, as a matter of necessity, were forced into 
the army to keep from starvation. Others were told 
that, if they had to leave their homes at all, it would 
only be for a short period ; that they should not go out 
of their States, and that they should have the privi- 
lege of visiting their homes every few weeks, and that 
the travel would be at Government expense and would 
cost them nothing. 

At length, when the appearances of war in the 
spring of 1861 became more and more palpable, and 
the militia were ordered out in Virginia, thousands 
were persuaded to volunteer to escape being drafted ; 
as volunteers stood higher, were better treated and 
better paid than the militia. Every sort of means 
were resorted to in order to induce and force men to 
volunteer. Whenever Government wanted to raise 
troops, " Drafting ! drafting! drafting !" was the cry. 
"The militia are called out!" "The militia are called 
out!" And men everywhere were frightened, for fear 
they would be drafted. Fredericksburg was one of the 
important places of rendezvous for the militia. There 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 57 

they met, and remained for more than a week, early in 
the summer of 1861. We heard the men talk, learned 
their views, and know that they did not go willingly 
into the service, notwithstanding they volunteered. Of 
two great evils — to be drafted or volunteer — they 
chose, as they thought, the least, and volunteered. 
Matters worked — or rather dragged — on in this way 
until the Conscript Act was passed by the Confederate 
Congress, and then there was no redress — no escape. 
All had to go. Did they go willingly? Ask their 
suffering wives and starving children. Ask the scouts 
who hunted them up and hurried them away from their 
homes at all hours of the night. And when this war 
shall have ended, and these poor men return home, — 
if they shall be so fortunate as to do so, — they will 
answer for themselves, and will tell stories of woe and 
sufferings that will almost chill the blood of the lis- 
teners. And, finally, liquor had much to do in making up 
companies for the war. When sober, men would swear 
they would never join the army, but, so soon as they 
were put under the influence of liquor, they would 
" enlist." And all this for what? To aid a set of 
traitors in establishing an infernal negro oligarchy down 
in the Gulf States, who would have no more respect nor 
regard for the poor soldiers who had suffered and fought 
their battles for them, than they would for their negroes 
in their cotton, rice, and cane plantations. 



58 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN NO JUST CAUSE 
FOR THE SECESSION OF ANY STATE, ETC. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of Octo- 
ber 11, 1860, we wrote the following paragraph, in 
answer to correspondents requesting us to give our 
opinion as to the result of the Presidential election : — 

" We are asked how we think Virginia will go in the 
Presidential election. Of course, we cannot tell. Our 
opinion, however, is, that the contest lies between 
Breckinridge and Bell, and that Breckinridge will 
carry the State. This is our honest conviction, from 
the facts now before us. 

"As to the final result of the Presidential election, 
there is but little doubt in our mind, but that Lincoln 
will be the next President of these United States. If 
he should be, we again say to our readers, prepare to 
discharge your duties as loyal citizens to your country, 
and firmly supporting the Constitution of the Federal 
Government. 

" The election of Abraham Lincoln, by the people of 
these United States, to the Presidency, is no just cause 
for the secession of any State or States. If Lincoln 
should be elected, we hope the Southern people will act 
with that prudence and discretion which shall secure to 
our country as much peace and quietness as possible. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 59 

That this is to their interest, and to the interest of our 
common country, all sensible men must allow. We 
make these remarks because we feel it to be our duty 
to prepare the minds of our readers for the worst that 
may come. Should Lincoln act well his part, and the 
people act well their part, all will be well." 

Because we constantly advocated the Union and the 
strict observance of the Constitution of the Federal 
Government, and wrote in the conciliatory style which 
we uniformly did, it was an easy matter to associate 
our name and principles, and those of Union men gene- 
rally, with "Old Abe Lincoln and the Black Republi- 
cans" of the North. This infamously slanderous work 
our enemies engaged in and executed with a zeal and 
ardor worthy a better cause. To all their indignities, 
however, we submitted for the sake of our common 
country. 



CHAPTER X. 



POLITICAL PARTIES IN NORTH CAROLINA — THE STATE FOR 
THE UNION — CERTAINTY AND HORRORS OF CIVIL WAR 
PREDICTED, ETC. ETC. 

In the month of October, 1860, we were sent as a 
delegate to the Grand Council of the Union Baptist 
denomination of Christians, which met at Bethel meet- 
ing-house, Lenoir county, North Carolina, some ten or 
twelve miles east of Kinston. In our editorial corre- 
spondence from that place, we wrote, in the " Christian 



60 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

Banner" of November 1, 1860, the following remarks, 
under the head of "Random Thoughts Shot at a 
Venture :" — 

" The Greatest Study of Mankind is Man." 
"The country here is in a state of general excite- 
ment. Fairs, pole-raisings, barbecues, political meet- 
ings, and religious meetings, all help to keep up the 
whirl, and roll on the tide of general excitement. 

"Here they have the Douglas party, the Bell party, 
and the Breckinridge party, just as the people have 
them in the Old Dominion. The Douglas party is 
comparatively small in this State ; but the Bell party 
hope it will be sufficiently large to defeat Breckinridge, 
and thus give the State to Bell. The facts in the case, 
however, will soon be demonstrated. As yet, we have 
heard no one express himself as being a disunionist. 
Our opinion is, that the State is conservative, and will go 
for protecting and saving the Union even if Lincoln 
should be elected. God save our country ! should be 
the wish, fervent and constant prayer, of every Ameri- 
can citizen. Without the blessings of our God and our 
country, we are all just nothing and nobody. Think 
of that, will you ? 

" Be the result what it may, before God, we feel that 
we have constantly and faithfully discharged our duty 
to our readers. We have earnestly urged a union of 
the Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas parties, and have 
feebly and imperfectly foreshadowed the awful evils 
which must inevitably result and befall our country if 
precipitated into a revolution. The horrors of such an 
event will be far more indescribable than were the joys 
of the third heaven by the venerable apostle of God. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 61 

Mark this, reader; and when it actually comes to 
pass, then say if we predicted falsely ! 

" The Southern and border States will be the stage 
on which the most tragical scenes will be acted out, 
while the whole civilized world will realize the terribly 
paralyzing effects of the awful convulsion. Aspiring 
would-be despots may now think that they will rise and 
shine on petty thrones, and sway infernal sceptres over 
a crushed and ruined people ; but, in the stead of this, 
they will sink so deep into the whirlpool of political, 
national, and eternal infamy, that the long and strong 
arm of Omnipotence can never, never reach them more ; 
while the woes and wails of the dead and dying, and a 
nation's curse, will follow their anathematized ghosts to 
the lowest depths of the profoundest hell, there to haunt 
them as long as God shall be and eternity shall roll her 
ample sweep. 

" Is there — can there be — any redemption or salva- 
tion for him who, to effect his own demoniacal, ambi- 
tious aspirations, would establish his throne on the blood 
and bones and ashes of his fellow-citizens, and the 
downfall and eternal ruin of his whole country ? Think, 
reader ! God bless you, think of the awfully terrible 
results which will follow secession and a dissolution of 
the Union!" 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of Novem- 
ber 15, we wrote the following paragraphs. They 
were written and sent to the publisher before the Pre- 
sidential election, but were not published until after 
the election : — 

" Since writing our last article, we have conversed 
with a gentleman, — a citizen of North Carolina, who 

6 



62 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

has just returned from a visit to South Carolina. He 
was in Columbia, S.C., and says that the people there 
are unanimously for Breckinridge, and are in favor of 
secession. His testimony can be relied on, for he is 
himself a Breckinridge man and an avowed disunion- 
ist. But, reader, before this article goes to press, the 
destiny of our nation will be sealed. 

" We still hope" that, in the providence of God, Lin- 
coln will not be elected. But, in the event that he is, 
we would candidly advise our readers to act with 
the profoundest deliberation and the greatest prudence. 
The present and future happiness of us all is involved 
in this matter. Don't act rashly. Theory and prac- 
tice are widely different. To talk of war and fighting 
is one thing ; actual war and hard fighting is quite 
another thing. If possible, let us ward off the evil ; 
but if nothing else will do, and war must come, then 
let every one prepare for the very worst." 

"We learned during our visit to North Carolina that, 
while the South Carolinians were for Breckinridge and 
in favor of secession, they actually wanted Lincoln to 
be elected. This may appear strange to one who does 
not understand the " infernal" plot of treason laid by 
these arch- traitors to destroy the Republic. The lead- 
ers of this treasonable plot wanted some pretext to 
justify them in their worse than hellish work in the 
eyes of the people and of the world. They wanted 
something to thoroughly " fire up the Southern heart," 
and to prepare the masses of the people in the slave 
States to fall into their " infernal" plot to destroy 
the Republic and effectually and forever break up 
the Government. The election of Mr. Lincoln they 



. THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 63 

supposed would do this. The Breckinridge electors 
throughout the South had been careful to prepare 
the minds and hearts of that party, by teaching them 
what to do and how to act in the event of " certain 
contingencies;" that is to say, "if Abe Lincoln is 
elected, we, the Breckinridge party, will secede from 
the Union, and will drag all the slave States along 
with us." " We will rule if we can, but ruin if we 
cannot." 

That the whole plot was preconceived and predeter- 
mined by the leaders needs no stronger evidence 
than the simultaneous action of the whole party, 
turning, as they did, right over to the damnable doc- 
trine of secession immediately after the election of 
Mr. Lincoln. 

In less than one month from the day of the Presi- 
dential election, the contemptible " secesh" flag was 
floating from the top of a tall pole in the town of 
Goldsboro', North Carolina. We saw it there early in 
the month of December, 1860, even before South Caro- 
lina had seceded. This we were told by a citizen was 
the work of the Breckinridge party. Our heart 
pained us as we gazed upon what we then considered 
and remarked at the time to our friend to be the 
abomination of the desolation of our own native, 
dearly-beloved South. 

In returning to Fredericksburg early in the month 
of December, 1860, from North Carolina, we learned 
in Richmond that the doctrine of secession was be- 
coming popular, and men everywhere were avowing 
disunion sentiments. On entering the cars in Rich- 
mond city, we fell in with an acquaintance — an able 
member of the bar — who immediately introduced to 



64. THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

us the question of secession, and, Breckinridge lawyer- 
like, warmly and most enthusiastically argued to con- 
vince us of the correctness of his disunion sentiments. 
We reasoned the subject with him, and, finally, in a 
summary manner, summed up a few of the many hor- 
rible results of his principles, if carried into effect, at 
all of which he seemed to be perfectly astonished. We 
closed our remarks to him in the presence of others 
by simply remarking, " Time will prove who is correct 
on this subject." Subsequent facts speak for them- 
selves. Come and see. 

On our arrival in Fredericksburg we were utterly 
surprised to learn that the subject of uncompromising, 
unconditional secession was advocated by many, mostly, 
however, by men of the Breckinridge party. One of 
our citizens had gone so far as to put a star on his hat, 
determined that all who saw him might know him to 
be a disunionist, — a rampant, hot-headed, brainless 
South Carolina secessionist. We began to tremble for 
the fate not only of the Gulf States, but also for good 
old Virginia. We say uncompromising, unconditional 
secession, because the leaders of the secession party 
had determined to accept of no compromise whatever. 
They were unconditional secessionists, — disunionists for 
the sake of disunion. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 65 



CHAPTER XL 

THE "BANNER'S" FIDELITY TO THE SOUTH AND THE 
UNION — IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVING THE UNION, ETC. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of No- 
vember 29, 1860, under the head of "Random 
Thoughts Shot at a Venture," we wrote and published 
the following: — 

"Dear reader, this number closes the twelfth volume 
of the ' Christian Banner.' While we reflect on the 
ups and downs, the trials and afflictions, the crosses 
and losses, the incidents and accidents, the sorrows and 
troubles, the privations and pleasures, of the last 
twelve years of our eventful life, the emotions of our 
heart are indescribable. We can't crush back the 
rising tear of mournful sadness. Our feelings are in- 
expressible, — known to none but God, our heavenly 
Father. The waters of affliction run deep, and roll 
heavily over our troubled breast. We trust in God's 
promises. 

"Dear reader, permit us to say in this chapter of 
1 Random Thoughts' that, in our editorial of the first 
number of the 'Christian Banner,' which was pub- 
lished the 4th of December, a.d. 1848, we distinctly 
and most emphatically stated that we were with the 
South first, last, and forever. That by the South, and 
with the South, we'd stand or fall, sink or swim, live 

6* 



66 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

or die. That with her destiny our own is inseparably 
connected. Come weal or woe, peace or war, famine 
or plenty, victory or death, it shall be our pride and 
boast while living, and our honor and glory when 
dying, to yield up to God the blessed, Southern, vital 
air which we first breathed when we came into this 
grand, glorious, and sublime world. 

"We love the South, and we can't help it, and we 
don't want to help it, and we shall not try to help it. 
The farther we get into the South, the more and more 
we feel like staying in the South. We were born and 
cradled in the South, we were educated in the South, 
embraced Christianity in the South, were ordained to 
preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the South, mar- 
ried in the South, settled in the South, have lived all 
our life in the South, and intend to die in the South. 

" The companion of our early manhood, the idol of our 
heart, three of our children, our parents and ancestors, 
are buried and sleeping beneath the sacred soil of the 
South. If we must fight, and nothing will do but fight, 
let us fight where our noble ancestors fought, and bled, 
and died, — so that, when the fight is over, should we 
fall on the battle-field, and have no friends left to lay 
us low in the ground by the side of our ancestors, com- 
panion, children, and relatives, — we may at least be 
blessed and honored with the divine privilege to lie 
and repose on the surface of Southern soil over their 
sacred graves. 

" Were we to turn traitor to the South, the very ghosts 
of our ancestors would haunt us through all time; and 
our sainted parents, companion, and children would 
never meet and welcome us to the heaven and home of 
the redeemed. What ! wake up in the general resurrec- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. C7 

tion among Black Republicans! No, never, never, 
never I Our prayer to God is, that, when we wake up 
in the general judgment, we may appear there a white 
man, an honest man, a gentleman, and a Christian. 
This Black Republicans do not believe can be possible, 
for they ' do not fellowship slave-holders or their apolo- 
gists as Christians.' We hope that in eternity our 
individuality will be retained, and that we shall be our 
identical self, and nothing more nor less. 

"Reader, you begin to think, perhaps, that we have 
turned disunionist, secessionist; but we have not. We 
are decidedly, constantly, and wholly opposed to a dis- 
solution of the Union, if it can by any possible, honor- 
able means be avoided. 

" 'But how can we defend the South by staying in the 
Union?' Ay, that's the question, — the problem to be 
solved ! How, we answer, can we the better defend the 
South by going out of the Union? 

" We will fight for the South, but we will fight for her 
in the Union; then, if we gain the victory, we shall 
have preserved both the South and the Union, for the 
South can only be saved by remaining in the Union ; 
then, if we gain the victory, we shall retain a prize 
worthy the battle, however long, hard, and bloody that 
battle may be. 

" If we go out of the Union, whom shall we fight ? Black 
Republicans? They are the only ones of whom fears 
seem to be entertained. What ! voluntarily surrender 
the Union, the boon of our ancestors, which cost them 
their fortunes, their blood and lives, into the hands of 
our sworn enemies, and then wage war upon them and 
try to whip them because we have yielded up to them 
the Federal Government ? 



68 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"Let us stay in the Union, and fight for our rights in 
the Union, and, if we cannot get our rights by fighting 
Black Republicans in the Union, let us drive them out 
of the Union, and have things our own way, and the 
right and constitutional way. 

"Do we not virtually acknowledge our inability to 
contend against the Black Republicans by going volun- 
tarily out of the Union and giving up all into their 
hands ? If we are not able to contend with them in 
the Union, how shall we be able to do it out of the 
Union ? If they can whip us while we are in the Union, 
they can whip us after we get out of the Union ; so that 
we shall be no safer out of the Union than we are in 
the Union. 

"Again, while we remain in the Union we shall have 
the aid and influence of all conservative, constitutional, 
and law-abiding citizens at the North on our side; but 
if we go out of the Union, by force of circumstances they 
will be compelled to yield to the Black Republicans, 
and must, consequently, finally become enemies, or at 
least inefficient friends, to the South. So that, by going 
out of the Union, it seems to us that the South has 
every thing to lose and nothing to gain : hence, in ad- 
vocating the perpetuity of the Union, we feel that we 
are advocating the peace, prosperity, and future glory 
of the South. 

" We were opposed to any sectional man being brought 
out as a candidate for the Presidency of these United 
States. The result is just what we fearfully anticipated. 
But, seeing that a sectional President is about to be 
forced upon us, let us by every possible means influence 
him to do his duty, and crush out sectionalism, anni- 
hilate Black Republicanism, and thus restore peace, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 69 

good order, and harmony once more to the whole coun- 
try. If he shall fail to carry out in good faith the pro- 
visions embraced in the Federal Constitution, and his 
Black Eepublican constituents should sustain him in 
the violation of the Federal Constitution and his solemn 
oath, then let all constitutional and Union-loving citi- 
zens in the United States rise up in all the strength of 
their awful majesty and level all their united forces 
against him and his wicked accomplices in crime, and 
make a full, clean, and clear sweep of the whole party. 

" We heartily repudiate the summary manner of indi- 
viduals, little communities, counties, and States running 
out of the Union by themselves before the time comes, 
and before the word is authoritatively and officially 
given, by dragging down the glorious flag of the Union 
and running up little ' one-star' banners, to be gazed 
at by the prudent, the wise and patriotic citizens of 
our once happy country. No such demonstrations 
should be made over the downfall of our glorious 
Republic. 

"The 'American flag' has been the pride and boast 
of every true-hearted American citizen. It has been 
the safeguard of all our rights at home and abroad, on 
land, and on the waters of the deep, blue seas. In the 
protection of our persons, our wives, our sons and daugh- 
ters, our property, our political, social, and religious 
privileges, we have always looked to the American 
flag; nor have we looked in vain. Should we not now 
mourn to see it trailing in the dust, — the sport and 
plaything of the rash, the unwise, the imprudent, the 
profane, the wicked traitors of our country ? 

"Had any one dared to perpetrate an act so sacrile- 
gious six months ago, he would have been regarded as 



70 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

being either a traitor or a madman, and would either 
have been hung for treason, or else sent to a lunatic 
asylum. 

" Great God ! Is the Republic lost ! Canst thou not, 
Lord, raise up another Washington to save the 
sinking Republic ? A Jackson ? A Webster ? A Clay ? 
Is our country ruined, — the mother of so many thou- 
sand sainted followers of the Adorable Redeemer, — the 
nursing mother and home of the Church, the Word, 
and the Truth of the living God, and of the gospel 
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is our country gone, lost, 
and ruined, and has her glory departed forever ? Save, 
Lord, by thine own almighty power, and save now! 

"Reader, think, will you? This is no time to crimi- 
nate and recriminate. Evil has fallen upon us. De- 
struction is at our very door. We cannot shun the 
consequences. To ask who has done the wrong — who 
has done the evil — will do no good now. The house 
is on fire. It is nonsense to stop to ask who set it on 
fire. Take it for granted that an incendiary did it, 
and let us go to work and try and extinguish the 
flames before the building is entirely consumed. If we 
cannot save the whole, let us be united in saving all 
we possibly can. If we fail in saving the whole Union, 
let us save every inch we can. Let there be a united 
South. Let us plant our standards all along Mason 
and Dixon's line, and say to every Black Republican, 
Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall 
thy insolent march be stayed; and let every Black Re- 
publican who may dare to set his foot south of that 
line, to wage an unprovoked war upon the South and 
her institutions, pay the penalty by the loss of his 
head. The safety of the South now depends on the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 71 

unity of the South. If the secession of any two, three, 
or four of the cotton States takes place, then let the 
whole scope of territory south of Mason and Dixon's 
line roll off in one united body, and leave the Black 
Eepublicans to fight it out, and to take care of them- 
selves, away over on the other side. This seems to us to 
be the best course to pursue to secure present and future 
safety to the South, and to prevent war and bloodshed. 
Let us be calm, cool, collected, deliberate, and deter- 
mined, and when the word is officially given, and the 
time comes to act, if action must be taken, let the 
mighty blow be given as if made by one man. Then 
will it produce the desired effect, and in no other way, 
nor at any other time. 

"Let us wait patiently, until we learn the result of the 
deliberations of all the Southern Legislatures and Con- 
ventions, and trust that God, in his wisdom and mercy, 
may yet devise a remedy for the salvation of the Union. 
We trust our Legislators, Congressmen, Senators, and 
President will all act wisely and prudently. This is the 
time when all should invoke the aid of an all-wise, all- 
merciful, and all-powerful Arm to save. Every one 
should think and act promptly. Let there be no di- 
vision in the South. If there should be, there is fearful 
danger that the South and the Union will both be inevi- 
tably ruined. Reader, think, will you ? May God grant 
us wisdom to do right, and to act in conformity to his 
will in all things." 

Convinced, as we were, and as events have proven, that 
the South could only be saved by remaining in the 
Union, and all our sympathies, ties, and interests being 
in the South, it was unnatural and impossible that we 



72 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

could be any thing other than a Southern man with 
Southern principles and sympathies. From the reading 
of the Abolition journals of the North, we feared that 
their object was, under the Administration of Mr. 
Lincoln, to make war on the South for the avowed pur- 
pose of abolishing African slavery in the South; and, 
from the character given Mr. Lincoln, during the Presi- 
dential canvass, by all the Breckinridge, Bell, and 
Douglas electors, we feared that when he came into 
power he would aid and abet the Abolitionists in carry- 
ing out their purposes and plans against the South. 
The only way, therefore, that we saw, by which the 
South could save herself, in the event of any of the States 
seceding, was for the whole of the slave States to unite 
for the purpose of repelling the threatened invasion of 
the Northern Abolitionists. 

Subsequent developments, however, convinced us 
that the South was not, and never could be, a unit. 
The Breckinridge party — the leaders, we mean — were 
as bitter in their denunciations of the Union men of the 
South as they were against the most ultra Abolitionists 
of the North, and, if any thing, more so. The degrading 
epithets which were constantly heaped upon the Union 
men of the South, by the leading Breckinridge or 
secession journals and orators, were only calculated, 
and that continually, to alienate the parties more 
and more. And, instead of becoming united, we saw 
that they never could and never would coalesce and 
harmonize, and that, if the rebellion were to succeed, 
Union men, by force of circumstances, would be crushed 
to earth. A man might just as well make a lumping 
business of it, and give a bill of sale of himself to 
the devil at once, as to have the iron yoke of secession 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 73 

unconditionally placed upon his neck. But we shall 
notice this subject more particularly in a subsequent 
chapter. 

There is one consideration that has always been a 
source of deep mortification to our feelings. It is this : 
our friends and fellow-citizens either cannot, or will not, 
comprehend and understand our true position. With 
the most of them, every man who opposes secession 
is an enemy to the South and a friend to the Aboli- 
tionists of the North, — when, in fact, it is exactly the 
contrary. Every secessionist is an actual, practical 
enemy to the South, and to the institutions and inte- 
rests of the South, whether he knows it and believes it, 
or not. This requires no argument : facts which are 
now constantly being developed prove it true beyond 
any and all contradiction. Secessionists are the traitors 
and enemies to the South and to all her long and 
warmly cherished institutions, as well as traitors to 
their whole country and to all the free, high, and 
holy privileges and institutions of this great Republic, 
— this grand and glorious country. Because of our 
heart-felt devotion to the South, our own dear South, 
and because we loved the people of the South, we op- 
posed secession. And because of our continued devo- 
tion to the South, we are now a refugee, homeless, and 
almost penniless, among strangers. But, we glory in it, 
we love the South, and shall until we die, — but we love 
the Union more. 



74 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SHALL THE FORMER GLORIES OF A NATION'S GREATNESS 
BE ANNIHILATED ? — DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION CAN- 
NOT BETTER THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY PRO- 
PERTY DEPRECIATING— CONFIDENCE DESTROYED, ETC. ETC. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of Decem- 
ber 13, 1860, we wrote and published the following 
article under the head of " Random Thoughts Shot at 
a Venture :" — 

" Great Cod ! Reader, has the fatal hour come ? 
Has the golden age of peace, happiness, safety, plenty, 
and liberty, fled forever ? Has the ' Iron Age/ the 
reign of terror, commenced ? Is the problem, ' Is 
man capable of self-government?' solved? Has the 
experiment been made, and has the result proved an 
awfully-sublime failure ? 

"Shall the 'Stars and Stripes' of this once honored 
and revered Republic — the token of American freedom, 
the pledge of security at home and abroad, by land 
and by sea — henceforth and forever trail in the dust, 
and become a proverb, a by-word, and a hissing among 
all the despotic nations of the earth ? 

" Shall the American Flag of Liberty stand out through 
all coming time as a fearful beacon, to which all future 
despots will point, warning all future adventurers of 
liberty of the fearful and fatal American experiment ? 
Shall this signal failure bear down and sweep into the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 75 

vortex of deep and dark oblivion all future attempts 
for national liberty ? 

" Shall the greatness, the honor, the glory, and the 
freedom of this grand and sublime Republic be tram- 
pled into dust beneath the unhallowed feet of traitors, 
tyrants, demagogues, despots, and demons ? 

"Shall the names of Washington, of Franklin, and of 
the fathers of American Independence be honored and 
revered no more forever? Shall future generations, 
our children and our children's children, never learn to 
lisp their names and talk of their moral greatness ? 
Shall there be no heart, in all coming time, to love 
them ? Shall their statues be broken down and crum- 
bled into dust, and their graves desecrated ? Shall a 
tyrant's sceptre wave over their ashes ? 

" Shall all the glorious memories which cluster around 
the Fourth of July be forever forgotten ? In a word, 
shall the American people — American greatness, 
American glory and honor, American liberty, and 
proud, happy America — all, all be crushed, — crushed, 
— lost, and lost forever ? 

" Reader, think ! God bless you, think ! Can the 
condition of the American people be bettered in any 
wise by a dissolution of the Union ? Let us suppose, 
what is absolutely impossible, that the Union will be 
peaceably dissolved. Then what? Will produce be 
any higher ? Will the prices of negroes be higher than 
they have been and now are ? Will the people gene- 
rally be more prosperous and happy than they have 
been for years past ? If so, how ? And why? Answer 
us, will you ? 

" Twelve months ago, there was confidence between all 
the commercial interests of America and of the other 



76 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

nations of the civilized world. There was commercial 
confidence between all the States of the Union. There 
was commercial confidence between the North and 
South. There was confidence among our fellow-citizens 
generally. Produce of all kinds was bringing fine prices. 
Eeal estate was constantly advancing everywhere. 
Negroes commanded enormously high prices. Within 
the memory of our oldest citizens, the country was 
never in a more prosperous and happy condition. Be- 
ligion seemed to be shedding and spreading its benign 
influence all over our happy country. But hark, 
reader ! 

"Within the last six weeks the small caps have shot 
up above the lofty mountains, portending the distant, 
gathering storm, and men everywhere are beginning 
to prepare against the desolation of the whirlwind, 
which threatens universal ruin. Already the ominous 
rumbling of the awful thunder is heard in the far dis- 
tance, and the hearts of the bravest men are beginning 
to quail as the heavens gather with blackness and 
darkness, the tempest and the storm. Men are sobered 
into thoughtfulness. They look serious, solemn, and 
care-worn. They think, and wonder tvhere, and how, 
and when the scene will end. A nation stands trem- 
bling on the thin surface beneath which the furious 
volcano burns ! 

"The final results of this awfully-alarming state of 
things are too deep and obscure to be fathomed by the 
profoundest intellects of the nation. The President, 
Senators, Congressmen, Legislators, and people are all 
shorn of their intellectual strength, and are brought 
to almost a perfect stand-still point. Plow to shun 
the fearful consequences, all seem to be at a loss. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 77 

In the mean time, confidence is everywhere on the 
wane. Produce has fallen; negroes have depreciated 
in value at least thirty-three and a third per cent.; 
real estate has also diminished in value to an alarming 
extent, and still the tendency is downward. 

" The general commotion and the awful financial 
pressure are being felt by all classes throughout the 
whole Union. Nobody knows where to go, what to do, 
or how to act. Universal bankruptcy threatens our 
whole country. This — yes, all this — is but the fitful 
glimmering, the deep-toned whispering, of the lurid 
lightnings and awful thunders which shall soon play 
at our feet, and «roll in terrible grandeur over our 
heads, while the majestic storm is raging on. Will 
the people submit to be engulfed in one common 
ruin by demagogues ? 

" As yet, we say, all is peace. The Union is not yet 
officially dissolved. The first blow has not yet been 
given. The American soil is yet unstained by the 
blood of her citizens spilt in civil war. If such be 
the effects at the first appearance of the gathering 
storm before the Union is officially dissolved, to what 
port shall we be drifted when the dreadful storm shall 
have passed away ? For God's sake, think ! Dissolve 
the Union, and then what ? 

" Universal anarchy, for a time at least, will reign 
rampant everywhere. Divide the country! By whom? 
Where shall the dividing-line be fixed? Who shall 
decide ? Divide the property of the Federal Govern- 
ment! By whom shall the division be made? And 
how ? } ppoint standing armies all along the border 
lines for the safe protection of the slave States? Where 
are all the soldiers to come from ? And by whom are 

1* 



78 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

they to be equipped, fed, clothed, and paid? They 
will all have to be taken out of the slave States to pro- 
tect slavery, and will have to be equipped, fed, clothed, 
and paid by this prospective Southern Confederate 
Government. Money must be raised, and onerous 
taxation must fall upon the people, to support this 
newly-constructed Southern Confederacy! What next? 

"Prepare the Constitution for the Southern Con- 
federacy ! By whom shall this important document be 
prepared? And how shall it be presented to the 
people of the several States who are to ratify it? And 
who are to form the Constitution of this Southern Con- 
federacy? When prepared and presented to the people 
of the several States, suppose some States will not 
endorse certain articles contained in it? As South 
Carolina is to prepare the document, suppose that when 
it is presented to North Carolina she rejects one point, 
Virginia objects to another clause, Maryland to a third, 
Delaware to a fourth, Kentucky to a fifth, and so on ? 
That which may be greatly to the interest of some 
States may be wholly ruinous to others. Then what? 
Try it over again ? Why, there will have to be more 
concessions and compromises to complete the Constitu- 
tion and permanent organization of this Southern Con- 
federacy than now exist under the Federal Govern- 
ment, or the Government of these United States ! 

"But what States will concede, yield, or compromise? 
Some of these Southern States will have it all their 
own way and to their own interest, or they won't have 
it at all. What then becomes of this anticipated 
strong Southern Confederacy ? South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, &c. &c, may confederate, 
because their interests, for the most part, are the same; 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 79 

but is it certain that all the slave States can confede- 
rate and move on harmoniously together ? This is a 
fearful experiment, yet to be made, — a dark and mys- 
terious problem to be solved. 

u What a deplorable and humiliating condition, we 
fear, awaits our happy country in the future! Before 
the Federal Government is entirely and eternally 
broken up, we think it just and due to each and every 
citizen in the Southern States to have the chance of 
either voting themselves out of the Union or to remain 
in it. If we are to go out of the Union, we want to 
go out of our own accord, and not be thrust out against 
our wishes. 

"If the cotton States have determined to go out, this 
is no reason why the border States shall be forced out. 
And, before we consent to go out of the Union, we 
want to know where we can and shall go after we get 
out. Before we take ourself from under the protection 
of the Federal Government, we wish to know some- 
thing about the government and laws by which we 
shall be governed in our new relation. This the people 
have the right to demand, and it is their imperative 
duty to demand it, before they madly and blindly rush 
into irretrievable ruin. This is no trifling subject. 
Our political and religious liberties are at stake. Our 
peace, our happiness, our fortunes, and that of our 
families, — in a word, every thing, — all, all is at stake. 
Shall we therefore rush on, in our madness and blind- 
ness, to universal and eternal ruin ? Think, will you ? 

"War-preparations are being made in all directions. 
Whom are we going to fight? For what are we going 
to fight? How are we going to fight ? Where are we 
going to fight ? When are we going to fight ? When 



80 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the Federal Government is broken up, who can officially 
and authoritatively issue a war-proclamation ? Beader, 
for God's sake, think! Surely blindness and darkness 
and madness have seized the people ! To destroy the 
purest and best form of government the world has 
ever known, — a Government formed by the clearest 
heads and purest hearts our country ever produced, 
or perhaps ever will again, and rear up a new order 
of things in a few days, weeks, months, or even years ! 
How preposterous the idea! The wisest sages and 
purest patriots would become paralyzed at the threshold, 
and shrink from sacrilege so great. 

" Header, we urge you to stop and think. Consider 
well before you unconditionally resolve to take the 
fearful leap into the awfully mysterious future. Once 
gone, all is gone! — lost! lost! forever lost! Do not 
allow passion to drive you to ruin. Let us not act too 
hastily in so momentous a cause as the present one. 
One false step may destroy every thing. 

"Let us force our enemies to do their duty. Let 
every friend to God and his country frown them into 
obedience. Withhold from them your influence and 
patronage; perish them into the path of duty, or 
starve them out of the Union and out of the world. 
This can be done, and it ought to be done. After all 
is said and done, however, that can be said and done 
to reclaim them, if they then take up the sword of 
rebellion, let the South and the conservative element 
of the North slay them, hip and thigh, one and all, 
good and forever. Save the Union, — save the Con- 
stitution, — save our country, — at all hazards. Our duty 
is, to save our country. This we can do, and this we 
ought to do; and every true heart should exclaim, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 81 

'By the God of our fathers, this we will do. — The 
country shall be saved. 1 Think, reader, think! And 
may God order your thoughts in the right direction." 

While Abolitionism was culminating in the North, 
Secessionism was culminating in the South, and, these 
two extremes meeting, the work of ruin is completed. 
And we now say that upon the souls of the leading 
Abolitionists of the North and the leading secessionists 
of the South rests the whole responsibility of all the 
horrors and bloodshed of this awful civil war. The 
Abolitionists were constantly goading and irritating the 
passions of the Southern people by meddling with the 
institutions of the South, especially that of African 
slavery, — an institution which they neither understood, 
nor in which they were in any wise interested, nor for 
which they were held responsible either before the 
tribunal of God or man, of heaven or earth, — an insti- 
tution which was recognized and protected by the 
Constitution of the United States. 

The disunionists of the South eagerly seized upon the 
meddling and intermeddling of Abolitionists as a fit 
and justifiable excuse and cause for dissolving the 
Union. Every little aggression of Abolitionists was 
magnified into a mountain, while the strongest appeals 
were made to the passions of the people to "fire up their 
hearts," and to prepare and fit them for the perpetrating 
of the most unchristian acts upon strangers travelling 
through the South and upon citizens who had emi- 
grated to the South from the North. Hence almost 
every man who was not a blatant disunionist was eyed 
with suspicion : some were fined and imprisoned, others 
were tied to posts and whipped, others were tarred 



82 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

said feathered and ridden on fence-rails, — while others, 
again, were actually hung; and in one case a man was 
fastened up in a hogshead and rolled down a deep pre- 
cipice into the Mississippi River. In a word, it had 
become both difficult and dangerous for strangers to 
travel through the South unless they had recommenda- 
tions from the very highest authorities of slave-holding 
States. Spiritualism had already by law been sup- 
pressed in some of the Southern States; and all teachers, 
male and female, from the North, were becoming more 
and more suspected, and many of them had been dis- 
charged and ordered to leave the South, — all which 
was calculated to irritate and stir up the worst passions 
of the people of the North. 

The leading editors and orators of the Abolitionists 
of the North, and the leading editors and orators of the 
secession, disunion " fire-eaters" of the South, seemed to 
vie with each other as to who should be the most suc- 
cessful in effectually and speedily breaking up the Federal 
Government. Hence we repeat that all the horrors 
of this horrible civil war rest on their guilty souls; 
and they will have to atone for their abominable black- 
hearted wickedness through all time and eternity, and 
to the people of these United States, and to God, the 
Judge of all. This may be considered by the very 
sanctimonious religionists, Abolitionists, and Secession- 
ists, as rather severe language to be applied to mock- 
philanthropists and traitors, or to Abolitionists and 
Secessionists ; but if, according to the teachings of the 
Bible, no liar nor murderer can enter into life ever- 
lasting, in the name of Heaven, what must be the 
punishment in eternity of men who have been instru- 
mental in bringing about a state of affairs by which a 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 83 

nation of men, women, and children have been mur- 
dered and ruined ? We have no apology to offer for, 
nothing to retract in the opinion advanced above. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of Decem- 
ber IS, 1860, we wrote the following : — 

"In this hour of our country's gloom and deep dis- 
tress, where is the peace conservative spirit of the Chris- 
tian Churches? Ay, reader! there has been a deep, 
dark, successful, ecclesiastical under-current at work, 
of which the great body of the people have remained 
in darkness. 

"The ecclesiastical parties that have agitated the 
institution which has brought our country to the pre- 
sent" fearful crisis should feel responsibilities resting on 
their sinful souls, weighty and lasting as eternity. 
Beware of them ; for within the folds of the white robes 
of the Church lie hid the keys of empire and an iron 
sceptre. 

" Why do not the ministers and religious editors who 
have worked long and hard to bring about the ruin of 
our country now hold ecclesiastical conventions, and 
resolve to act as peace-makers between the antagonistic 
parties ? Why fold their arms, close their eyes, and 
remain as dumb as death, when sudden destruction is 
at our very doors? Because the work of ruin and 
death is going on too finely to be obstructed now ! 

" They may think to offer up their long prayers and 
fool the people into the belief that God will listen to 
their folly ! Know, reader, that, if our country is saved, 
it will not be in consideration of the prayers of men 
who have helped to do the mischief. Trust not to the 
prayers of vain and foolish men, neither to the schemes 



84 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

and intrigues of ambitious politicians. Let the people — 
all the people — put their trust in God, — take their 
country's cause into their own hands, — and the God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Washington, the 
God of our fathers, will stretch out his strong arm of 
deliverance, and our country shall be saved. Lord, 
help, or we perish ! 

"Think, reader! The atheist takes from us all the 
consolations of the gospel, — all hope of future being and 
future bliss, — and for the hope of immortality and eternal 
life offers the boon of eternal annihilation ! 

" Destroy the Constitution of this happy country, this 
grand Republic, and what boon is promised to us for 
the relinquishment of all we hold so dear, so sacred? 
Bankruptcy, anarchy, civil war, starvation, death, and 
national annihilation ! Eeader, we stand on the brink 
of an awful chasm, deep, dark, and terrible ! Let us 
think before we take the fatal leap !" 

It will be remembered that, for many years past, 
there have been a number of professed gospel ministers 
at the South who have toiled with as much untiring 
zeal to infuse the spirit of rebellion into the hearts of 
the Southern people, and to prepare them for the ter- 
rible work of dissolving the Union, as ever did the 
ultra Abolitionists of the North. To this heaven- 
daring, God-forsaken, traitorous, ignorant, ambitious 
class of preachers we allude, who offer up long, loud, 
and hypocritical prayers for God to save the South, — 
that is, the institution of African slavery! For, 
with this unhallowed class of white-washed devils, 
negroism is the South, and the South is negroism. With 
this set of demons, (and their name is legion,) negroism 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 85 

and treason constitute the standard of respectability, 
and give to traitors office, respectability, and position 
in society. But we shall speak more of this class of 
scoundrels in a future chapter. The reader who has 
never felt nor realized the severities of secession may 
think we use strong language. But when history, in 
coming time, shall unfold the horrors of this unneces- 
sary and ungodly war, and the stories of suffering mil- 
lions shall be rehearsed among themselves, men will be 
astonished at the mildness of the language and terms 
used by us. It is not necessary in order to murder a 
man to pierce a bayonet to his heart: to be continually 
persecuted, threatened, goaded, slandered, ostracized, to 
be treated with continual contempt by old and young, by 
males and females, at home and abroad, by day and by 
night, at all times, in all places, and under all circum- 
stances, is a death to die which no feeling, sensitive 
man will ever covet but once. To live in a community, 
and be watched and suspected, and to have, one's house 
eaves-dropped by traitors and traitoresses, is a living 
hell on earth, to be more dreaded and shunned by all 
honest men, gentlemen, and true patriots than Homer's 
hell of ice and fire. 



86 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HORRORS OF A DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION — SOUTH CARO- 
LINA PASSES AN ORDINANCE OF SECESSION — THE SECES- 
SIONISTS JUBILANT — GENERAL REMARKS, ETC. ETC. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of December 
20, 1860, under the head of " Random Thoughts Shot 
at a Venture," we wrote the following, — which was the 
last article we wrote during the year 1860. At the 
time we wrote it, we had not learned of the passage of 
an ordinance of secession by the Convention of South 
Carolina. 

" Thank God, reader, this is the last chapter of 
' Random Thoughts' which we shall write in the ever- 
memorable and eventful year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty. This will ever be memora- 
ble in the history of America as a year of resolutions, 
legislatures, conventions, resignations, secessions, and 
of the breaking up and the downfall and utter ruin of 
this great American Republic. 

" The seeds of national ruin are sown, and the .germ 
lives, grows, and thrives. The leaven of discord is 
doing its mighty work with unparalleled swiftness and 
accuracy. We have acted the part of a faithful senti- 
nel ever since we assumed the high responsibilities of 
the editorial chair. Some have mocked, others have 
become offended, while others, again, have professed 
to admire the bold, fearless, and independent course of 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 87 

the ' Banner.' Fools may mock and laugh at the voice 
of wisdom now ; but at the last they will weep over 
their own folly, and cry for mercy when it will be too 
late forever. 

"We have from time to time expressed our views rela- 
tive to the present crisis of our common country. We 
could write volumes, if it would do any good or save 
our country. We fear, however, that the die is cast, 
and can only now warn our fellow-citizens to prepare 
for one of the most awful and terribly-sublime revolu- 
tions to be found in the world's history, — the re- 
sult of all which, we fear, will be a military despot- 
is?n. Let us not close our eyes to the fearful dangers 
which surround us on every side. Let us be watchful, 
prayerful, looking unto, and constantly trusting in, the 
mercy and goodness of God to save us and our country 
from one common ruin. 

" To our female readers of the ' Banner' we would 
say, Be calm. Be not unnecessarily alarmed. The 
God who has always protected his people can protect 
them still. Look to the Bible, the cross, and up to the 
throne of your Father in heaven. Bemember, a spar- 
row falls not to the ground without his notice, and that 
even the hairs of our head are all numbered. The reins 
of universal empire are in his almighty hand, and the 
rise and downfall of kingdoms, empires, and republics 
are all at his command. 

"Nations, as well as individuals, have repented and 
obtained forgiveness from him. As a people, we have 
grown great and proud; and, although nominally 
Christians, we have been unmindful of God our creator, 
and neglectful of our duties. If, therefore, our kind 
heavenly Father is about to lay on us the chastening 



88 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

rod, let us neither murmur nor repine. It may all be 
for our eternal good. Eemember, also, that you will 
be constantly watched and cared for by every brave 
son of this declining Eepublic. Be strong, therefore, 
and fear not. 

" Never have we felt more cool, calm, collected, and 
determined. We have passed through many storms 
of infinitely more importance to ourself, individually, 
than a great national revolution can be, so far as the 
dangers of simply passing through a revolution are 
concerned. The after-consequences are more to be 
dreaded than the revolution itself. To die is a small 
matter, provided the work of death be quickly executed ; 
but the idea of becoming the vassal of a petty despot 
is -intolerable. 

" Remember what we say : — If this Republic be 
broken up, in process of time, we doubt not, every 
State in the Union will become a separate, inde- 
pendent sovereignty, with a contemptible despot at 
its head, and that church and state will coalesce. In 
each little monarchy the religious party that is most 
popular, wealthy, and influential will be protected and 
supported by Government, to the neglect of all others. 
Reader, you may laugh now ; but you, your children, 
and your grandchildren may weep and lament when 
too late. 

" Some even yet talk of a peaceable dissolution of 
the Union. What wild and strange infatuation ! Do 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North 
Carolina, and Virginia think there will be a peaceable 
dissolution ? Why, then, are they arming themselves 
and making such heavy outlays in preparing for war ? 
What mean these l Minute-Men' at the South and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 89 

1 Wide- A wakes' at the North, if there be no danger 
of war? 'Tie folly, absurd, downright madness, to 
think of revolution without war. The thing is impos- 
sible. 

"We think it is an outrage for the Union to be 
broken up by extreme sectionalists. Let the South 
and the conservative men at the North resolve that the 
Union shall not be destroyed. Annihilate the cham- 
pion Abolition leaders at the North and the leading 
secession traitors at the South, first. If they cannot 
be conquered in the Union and by the Union, how in 
the name of Heaven can they be after the whole South 
goes out of the Union ? Let us have our rights, and 
have them where we ought to have them, — in the 
Union, not out of the Union. Let us never be driven 
out of the ' big house into the kitchen,' or (should we 
not rather say?) out-of-doors into the wide world, when 
all our rights are in the ' big house,'— and that, too, by 
a set of fanatical Black Republicans and secession 
demagogues ! Think of that, will you ? 

" We are for the preservation of the Union, though 
American soil should be steeped in the blood of her 
brave, warm-hearted, patriotic sons. This will be the 
result if we go out of the Union. Therefore, before 
we would voluntarily surrender up the Federal Govern- 
ment to Black Republicans, and go out of the Union, 
we would fight them and secession leaders, the arch- 
traitors in this rebellion, until the judgment of the 
great day, and run all risks of servile insurrections. We 
would either conquer them, or they should conquer us. 
Never, for God's sake, for honor's sake, for our coun- 
try's sake, for our children's sake, for humanity's sake, 
and for liberty's sake, never, never let us act the 



90 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

cowardly and dastardly part of acknowledging our- 
selves whipped before we fight, and surrendering all to 
our enemies before we make an effort to save all. 
Caesar did not act in this way, nor did our forefathers, 
nor will we. Never surrender. Cling on to the 
Union. Cleave to the 'Stars and Stripes,' come weal or 
woe, victory or death. This is the way in which brave, 
patriotic Americans should talk and act. Stand up for 
your rights, fellow-citizens ; and nothing less than this 
Federal Government, this blessed Union, are our 
rights." 

In the same number of the "Christian Banner" we 
wrote the following brief paragraph : — 

" The South Carolina Secession Convention organized 
in Columbia on the 17th inst., and were driven by a 
small-pox panic to Charleston, where they arrived on 
the 18th instant. They had not entirely passed the 
Secession Ordinance when last heard from. But, in 
all probability, they will be out of the Union before 
this paragraph meets the reader's eye; rather a bad 
start." 

Before our paper went to press, we received the fol- 
lowing news from Charleston, which we published in 
the same number of the " Banner :" — 

" The Union dissolved ! Late and important from 
South Carolina ! Fourth day's proceedings. Secession 
Ordinance passed unanimously ! Great excitement 
throughout Charleston ! The news received all over 
the city with loud cheers. 

"Charleston, Dee. 20. — The Convention was opened 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 91 

with, prayer to-day, after which the roll was called and 
the journal read. 

"A resolution was offered inviting the Mayor of 
Charleston to a seat on the floor of the Convention. It 
was amended by including the Governor of the State, 
the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the 
House. In this form it was passed. 

u The chair announced the appointment of a committee 
to draw up a summary of the causes for the secession 
of South Carolina, and also for standing committees. 

" Mr. Khett offered a resolution for the appointment 
of a committee of thirteen for the purpose of providing 
for the assemblage of a convention of the seceding 
States, and to form a Constitution. Adopted. 

" Mr. Inglis made a report from the committee to pre- 
pare and draft an ordinance proper to be adopted by 
the Convention. The ordinance is as follows : — 

"'An ordinance to dissolve the union between the 
State of South Carolina and the other States united 
with her under the compact entitled "The Constitution 
of the United States of America." 

" ' We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in 
Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is 
hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance 
adopted by us in convention, on the 23d day of May, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United 
States of America was ratified, and also all acts and 
parts of acts of the General Assembly of this State and 
amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby re- 
pealed, and that the union now subsisting between South 
Carolina and the other States, under the name of the 
United States of America, is hereby dissolved.' 



92 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"PASSAGE OF THE ORDINANCE. 

" The ordinance was taken up and passed by a unani- 
mous vote of 169, — all the members voting. 

" The passage took place at precisely a quarter-past 
one o'clock, p.m. 

" The news spreads over the city. Great cheering. 

" As soon as the passage of the ordinance was known 
outside the doors of the Convention, the tidings spread 
rapidly all over the city, and a great crowd collected 
in the vicinity of Secession Hall. Immense cheering 
ensued. 

" Mr. Miles moved that the clerk telegraph to mem- 
bers of Congress at "Washington that the ordinance 
had passed, and the motion was unanimously carried. 

" Mr. Dessausue offered the following : — 

"• ' Resolved, That the Secession Ordinance be en- 
grossed on parchment, under the direction of the At- 
torney-General, and signed by the President and mem- 
bers, this evening, at Institute Hall, and that it be 
placed among the archives of the State.' 

" Half-past six o'clock was agreed upon as the hour 
to proceed to Institute Hall for the purpose of signing 
the document." 

The reader will bear in mind that "at precisely a 
quarter-past one o'clock, p.m., on the 20th day of 
December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty, 
South Carolina committed the suicidal act, which 
action influenced ail the other seceding States to per- 
petrate the same acts of self-destruction. Notwith- 
standing we had long anticipated the course which 
South Carolina would take, yet when the intelligence 
was received that the ordinance of Secession was 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 93 

actually passed, and that South Carolina, our native 
State, had declared herself dissolved from all connec- 
tion with the United States of America, the news fell 
upon our ear like the deafening thunder of heaven at 
noonday from a clear sky. To us it sounded like the 
death-knell of a nation's glory. The cheering and 
dancing of ungrateful, wicked children over the grave of 
of a kind and affectionate mother would have seemed no 
more unnatural to us than did the great cheering of the 
citizens of Charleston over the downfall of their State 
and country. Oh, what blindness ! What madness ! 

South Carolina had suffered less from the aggressions 
of Northern Abolitionists than any other State, per- 
haps, in the Union. Her geographical position effec- 
tually secured her slaves from the aggressions of the 
Abolitionists of the North. But she was not satisfied. 
Secession and the reopening of the African slave-trade 
and free trade were long-cherished idols and hopes of 
South Carolina. Charleston was to be a London, or 
Liverpool, and the leaders in this rebellion were to be 
despots and tyrants over thousands of the suffering, 
benighted sons and daughters of Africa's unhappy race. 

We venture the assertion that Virginia alone had 
lost more negroes up to the time of this rebellion than 
all the Gulf States together; and yet Virginia was 
willing and anxious to remain in the Union, while the 
Gulf States, with scarcely the pretext of the shade of 
a shadow of cause for their rash act, thrust themselves 
out of the Union, and declared they would drag the 
border States with them. We have often said, and it 
has ever been the honest conviction of our mind and 
heart, that if South Carolina had been geographically 
located as Virginia is, she would never have seceded. 



94 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

But Virginia was made a " cat's paw" for South Caro- 
lina and the other cotton States, and she has paid but 
too dearly for her credulity and imbecility. However 
much we detested the course pursued by Northern 
Abolitionists, the rash act of South Carolina in seceding 
from the " United States of America" was far more 
reprehensible than any thing the Abolitionists had ever 
done. 

It may be well to remark here, for the satisfaction of 
the reader, that the impression was made upon the 
minds of the people of the South that the fixed pur- 
pose of the Black Eepublican party, of which Mr. 
Lincoln was represented as being the head, was to 
make war upon the South, for the purpose of abolish- 
ing slavery, and that they intended to stir up the 
negro population to servile insurrections, to murder the 
whites indiscriminately, and turn loose all the negroes 
upon the whole South to do as they pleased. In a 
word, that there was to be a general "John Brown 
raid" upon a magnificent scale, which, with all the aids 
and Government facilities, would secure almost certain 
success. Hence it was that the whole South was con- 
sidered a unit to drive back any such diabolical, ag- 
gressive party. The Abolition journals of the North 
went very far to confirm the minds of the Southern 
people in this belief. Bat South Carolina was too fast 
for the Abolitionists, even if their purpose was as 
above suggested. The honor, the imperishable glory, 
of secession and inaugurating civil war was reserved 
for South Carolina! Shame on the State, and infamy 
on the leaders ! 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 95 



CHAPTER XIV. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of January 
3, 1861, we wrote the following paragraphs : — 

" New Year. — We enter upon the New Year with 
feelings quite different from any in the past history of 
our eventful life. This is the last New Year's day we 
ever expect to be worthy of being accounted a citizen 
of the United States of America. We have resolved 
to take all things calmly and coolly, and wait the final 
result, whatever that result may be. 

"Before the next New Year our country will either 
be flooded with blood and carnage, or else settled down 
upon terms which will secure peace and harmony for 
generations yet to come. 'Tis awful to be held in a 
state of everlasting suspense. If war is to come, and 
come it will, we care not how soon. The sooner this 
question is settled the better it will be for the whole 
country. We fear nothing, so far as we are individu- 
ally concerned. All we care for is the thought that our 
happy country is to be broken up; that the 'Stars and 
Stripes' of this glorious Union are to trail in the dust ; 
that so many lives of our fellow-citizens are to be sacri- 
ficed ; that our whole country for the time being is to 
become bankrupt; that all our social, political, and 
religious blessings, for the time being at least, are to 
become paralyzed. When, however, the storm shall 
have passed away, and this question is forever and per- 



96 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

manently settled, we may bless God that we passed 
through the storm to the end, that we and our children 
may forever thereafter enjoy the calm and the sunshine. 

" Our readers must pardon us for writing no more 
editorials. Our opinions now are not what the excited 
people want. They want to know what is going on. 
They want facts, not opinions ; and these we will con- 
tinue to give until the battles are all fought and the 
victory won. 

"We say to the South, for God's sake, for one an- 
other's sake, for the sake of our country, let us all at 
the South be a unit. As long as there was any hope 
of the Union, we were for it, but, now that all hope is 
gone, we earnestly urge the necessity that the whole 
South stand shoulder to shoulder; come weal or 
woe, let us all live or die together. We confidently 
say to all our readers that they need not be surprised 
at any moment to hear that war has commenced. We 
read the papers from all sections of the country, and 
have a fair opportunity of forming tolerably correct 
opinions upon the future result of affairs. 

" In the event of. civil war, the North has decidedly 
the advantage over the South. The Northern people 
have war-implements, and all necessary facilities for 
manufacturing them. They outnumber the people of 
the South by thousands and millions. When they 
leave their families and property to march to the 
battle-field, they leave all safe behind them. They 
have provisions and means to carry on and keep up a 
war of extermination. All these things should be well 
considered by the Southern people. And it should be 
remembered, likewise, that the Northern people are 
fighting at home, as well as the Southern people. The 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 97 

old Revolutionary War and the Revolution of France 
will not be a comparison to the scenes which will be 
acted out during the American internecine war. 

" We should not be surprised at any moment to hear 
of a collision between the secessionists and the troops 
of the Federal Government. That a peaceable seces- 
sion is impossible, and that civil war is inevitable, are 
facts which we suppose no sensible man will for a mo- 
ment question. We have again and again warned our 
fellow-citizens of the fearful and terrible results of 
secession, and the breaking up of this great and glo- 
rious Government. Men will now be forced to fight 
and defend their rights, whether they wish to do so or 
not. Think of that, will you? 

" If Virginia secedes from the Union, she will, by the 
force of circumstances, be a free State in less than a 
quarter of a century ; and, as soon as she secedes, her 
slave property will become comparatively valueless. 
The actual depreciation of the value of servants in the 
slave States since the election of Mr. Lincoln is more 
than every negro in the State of South Carolina would 
sell for, at the enormous prices they would have 
brought twelve months ago. This is only one of the 
small blessings of blessed secession. Think of that, 
will you?" 

At the time of writing the above, there was but little 
to hope for. South Carolina had already seceded, and 
the Governor of that State had been tendered the 
services of troops from Georgia, Alabama, and different 
portions of South Carolina. A committee had been 
sent from Wilmington, North Carolina, to consult 
with Governor Ellis upon the propriety of taking 



98 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Fort Johnson, a Revolutionary fortress, situated on 
Cape Fear Kiver, about two miles from its mouth, and 
near the town of Smithville. Governor Ellis did not 
advise the taking possession of the fort, but the com- 
mittee returned home resolved upon taking care of the 
entire Cape Fear section, — which clearly and fully de- 
monstrated the fact that Governor Ellis would not 
oppose the action of the committee, thus tacitly con- 
senting to the capturing of the fort. 

The Cabinet of the Congress of the United States at 
Washington was divided, and in a state of the most 
deplorable and ridiculous disorder and confusion, in 
relation to the course to be pursued in reference 
to Major Anderson, — the commissioners from South 
Carolina peremptorily demanding that he should be 
ordered back to Fort Moultrie. Messrs. Floyd, Thomas, 
and Thompson were in favor of his being ordered 
back, while Messrs. Holt, Black, and Stanton opposed 
it. Toucey and the President were non-committal. 
The commissioners from South Carolina affirmed that 
unless Major Anderson was dealt with according to 
their demands, they should consider a non-compli- 
ance on the part of the Administration an act of 
coercion, which the State of South Carolina would not 
tolerate. Senator Wigfall, of Texas, and Senator 
Davis, of Mississippi, urged President Buchanan to 
send Anderson back to Fort Moultrie immediately, as 
the only way of preventing a collision between the 
United States troops and those of South Carolina. 
It was stated that Buchanan determined to shirk the 
responsibility of ordering Major Anderson back, and 
throw it on some one else. 

At this time, also, great war-preparations were being 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 99 

made at the North. It was said that Massachusetts 
was ready to respond promptly to any demand made 
upon her for troops to sustain the Union and the 
laws; that seven thousand troops could be put in 
marching order at twenty-four hours' notice; that one 
hundred and forty-five thousand were enrolled in the 
militia of the State, and of that number twenty thou- 
sand could be easily mustered. If the reader is at all 
acquainted with the history of the proceedings of our 
country from the meeting of Congress in 1860 up to 
the time that it adjourned in 1861, he will not be at 
all surprised that men should have despaired of all 
hope of any amicable settlement of our national diffi- 
culties. South Carolina in arms at the one extreme, 
and Massachusetts in arms at the other extreme, what 
were men in the border States to expect, but to be 
overwhelmed, annihilated, in the common ruin ? 

We saw no possible chance of avoiding collision between 
the United States troops and those of South Carolina, 
unless Virginia could step in between the two bellige- 
rent parties as a pacificator, and devise some compro- 
mise by which to reconcile them. Of this, however, 
we had but little hope, owing to the fact that all the 
secession journals and orators of Virginia were moving 
heaven and earth, as it were, to force secession upon 
the people of Virginia. Already had the secession 
party begun openly and boldly, and, we may add, im- 
pudently and insolently, to upbraid Union men, making 
all sorts of insinuations and applying all kinds of epi- 
thets to them, such as "Union-shriekers," "submis- 
sionists to old Abe Lincoln," "Black ^Republicans," 
"Abolitionists," "Traitors to Virginia and the South." 
All this and a thousand other things were said and 



100 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

done to crush and damn the influence of the Union 
men, and to scare and force them into submission to 
the infernal demon secession, — into the accursed re- 
bellion. 



CHAPTER XV. 



In the number of the " Christian Banner" of January 
10, 1861, we wrote the following : — 

"THE CRISIS. 

"The crisis is on us! Yes, reader, we are in the 
midst of a grand revolution. The Rubicon is passed, 
and henceforth our country shall roll on to glory or to 
ruin, — which, Cod only knows. 

" Washington City is quite too small a place to hold 
all the towering minds of this great nation. The 
geographical boundaries of this vast country are too 
circumscribed to contain in peace and harmony so 
many millions of intellectual beings. The people want 
more elbow-room. They do not die fast enough to 
make room for one another and for posterity. Nature 
is too slow in the execution of her duty. Artificial 
means, the sword and bayonet, must be used to expedite 
her work of death and destruction. It takes space 
and territory for mind and matter. The people want 
more territory for their physical organizations, and 
more space in which their towering minds can revel. 
They want more latitude, more liberty, more freedom. 
Mind is progressing and improving. The institutions 
of God and our fathers are not sufficiently latitudinous 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 101 

for the people of this generation. - There is a great up- 
heaving of mind, and the laws of God and man 
must be overthrown and the fragments scattered to 
the winds. Old things are passing away, and a new 
order of all things is being introduced. 

"Politically, the people profess to be governed by a 
republican form of government; and yet they are 
gulled, duped, and led on to ruin by a class of unprin- 
cipled, aspiring demagogues, — a set of frothy, sophisti- 
cal, school-boy orators, who rant and foam and talk 
about the sacred rights of the dear people, the hard- 
working yeomanry, the backbone and sinew of the 
country. This is beautiful! eloquent! sublime! logi- 
cal ! ad eaptandum ! 

"The dear people are thrown into raptures of political 
ecstasy by their party leaders, and swear they'll follow 
them if they land in perdition. Party zeal, political 
blindness, gross ignorance, religious fanaticism, bigotry, 
and intolerance have all conspired to produce the pre- 
sent revolution, and to involve our whole country in 
civil war and one common ruin. The fountain of the 
great political deep is broken up, and the desolating 
torrents are bound to flow on, and on, and on, until 
the question which has so long agitated this whole 
nation shall be permanently and finally settled. Yes, 
this question must and will be settled, before peace, 
happiness, prosperity, tranquillity, safety, and order 
can ever be restored to our country. It is bound to 
be done! There is no help for it. Must the sword 
decide the contest? Must civil war, with all its con- 
comitant train of horrors, be forced upon us? Yes, 
civil war is already at our very door. Men say by their 
actions that it shall come, that they will have war, that 



102 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the sword must and shall settle the question. Well, let 
the sword decide the contest, let civil war once begin, 
and by the time the victory is won, and war ends, 
thousands who make so much bluster and fuss about 
fighting will have it to their entire satisfaction. The 
work of death once begun, the warfare will be one 
general melee, from the terrific character of which the 
mind turns away in disgust, while the heart sickens 
and sinks into sadness. 

" A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. 
Where is the civilization, where is the Christianity, of 
the nation ? Brothers going to war with brothers, 
fathers with sons, and sons with fathers ! This is 
civilization, this is Christianity, this is the spirit of 
the gospel, is it? Where are the preachers who 
preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of 
good things to our ears ? 

"We regard any class of preachers and pretended 
Christians who will calmly and deliberately, in their 
religious deliberative bodies, vote for the breaking up 
of one of the best Governments the world has ever 
known, as being no better than whitewashed infidels, 
traitors to God and their country, and abominable 
hypocrites, justly meriting the severest censures and 
warmest execrations of the wise and patriotic every- 
where. God save our country from the damning in- 
fluence of all such sects and parties." 

In the same number of the " Christian Banner" we 
published the following prayer, with a brief remark : — 

" Military Prayer. — The Secession Convention at 
Charleston, S.C., was opened on last Monday week by 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 103 

the Rev. T. R. English, who prayed to God, saying, 
1 If, in thine inscrutable providence, we should be 
called upon to encounter the perils of war, may our 
arms, in the day of battle, be under thy shield and 
protection. May our wives, our daughters and sisters, 
freely give up their husbands, brothers, and sons, and 
in the day of battle may they encourage them to stand 
firmly in their places in the assertion and vindication 
of their rights.' 

" The conflicting parties, if it were possible, would 
place the All-Wise Ruler of the Universe in as awk- 
ward a predicament as they have got the President of 
the United States. If he answer the prayers of the 
secessionists, he must disregard and offend the people 
01 the North ; and if he regard the prayers of the 
Northern people, he will offend the secessionists. So, 
what is he to do ? He will certainly make no compro- 
mise with sin nor sinners, but will do right. There- 
fore, he cannot consistently answer the prayers of both 
parties. Nor do we intend any irreverence in this 
remark." 

It will be recollected that about this time the Repre- 
sentatives in the Congress of the United States from 
the Gulf States manifested the most morbid indifference 
as to what was being done in Congress, some of them 
declaring that they felt no interest there, as their 
States were in convention and would soon pass ordi- 
nances of secession, and they were only waiting the 
action of their States. A correspondent from Wash- 
ington, writing under date of January 6, 1861, 
says, — 



104 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" The Alabama and Mississippi delegations held a 
caucus last night, and afterwards telegraphed to the 
conventions of their respective States, advising them 
to secede immediately, saying that there is no prospect 
of any satisfactory adjustment of difficulties. They 
resolved to remain here, however, and await the action 
of their States." 

These Representatives were sent by the citizens of 
their respective States to transact the business of the 
Federal Government, and to guard the interests of the 
whole country, as well as the special interests of the 
people of the States which they represented. They were 
sworn to observe the Constitution of the United States, 
and were receiving pay from the Government for every 
hour they held their seats in Congress. In palpable vio- 
lation of their solemn oaths, in violation of the high 
and responsible obligations they were under to their 
constituents and to the whole country, instead of 
discharging their duties as statesmen and patriots, 
they were constantly engaged in holding caucus -meet- 
ings and plotting treason against the Republic, while 
the troops at home were taking the arsenals and forts 
that belonged to the Federal Government. A cor- 
respondent writing from Mobile, under date of January 
4, 1861, says — 

" The United States arsenal and forts at this place 
were taken on yesterday at daylight by the Alabama 
troops. They contained 78,000 stand of arms, 1500 
boxes of powder, 30,000 rounds of musket-cartridges, 
and other munitions of war. Fort Morgan, situated 
eight miles below Mobile, was taken this (Friday) 



THE SOUTH SACKIFICED. 105 

morning by the Mobile troops, and garrisoned by two 
hundred men." 

What constitutional right had the State authorities 
of Alabama, or any other State, to seize and take vio- 
lent possession of the " United States arsenals and 
forts," or any other property belonging to the United 
States ? Was this not a most wicked usurpation of 
power, and that, too, while these very States were 
represented in the Congress of the United States ? 
The resolution declaring the right and duty of Florida 
to secede passed the Convention on the 7th of January, 
1861, by a vote of sixty-two ayes to four nays. A 
committee of thirteen was appointed on secession, and 
their ordinance for secession was adopted; and at 
this very time the Representatives from Florida occu- 
pied their seats in the Congress of the United States. 
Determined, as they were, prior to the meeting of 
Congress, to secede, why did they take their seats at 
all ? Only the better to enable them to carry out their 
diabolical plot of breaking up the Federal Government. 
They had determined to accept of no compromise, how- 
ever satisfactory to the border States that compromise 
might be. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of 
January 24, 1861, we wrote and published the fol- 
lowing : — ■ 

" Look to your interest. — An appeal to the 
people, etc. etc. — At a time like the present, no man 



106 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

who lias a head, a heart, and soul, can look on with 
morbid indifference upon the probable destiny of his 
country. Our God first, and our country next. 
Without God we could have no country; and with- 
out a country we could have no existence, — here, 
at least. When liberty of thought, conscience, speech, 
and press are taken from us, we don't wish to re- 
main a citizen of this lower world any longer. 
And if. we are proscribed, it matters little whether it 
is by popular opinion or the sword : the results are the 
same. 

"At a time like the present, every citizen should 
think calmly, rationally, and act deliberately and de- 
cidedly. This is no time for child's play. Every thing 
that freemen hold near and dear this side of heaven 
is at stake. The question is, shall we remain passive 
in the hands of corrupt, ignorant politicians, or shall 
we, as freemen, take our own rights into our own hands, 
and defend and protect our rights in our own way and 
upon our own responsibility ? 

" Five States have declared to the world that they 
are out of the Union. These five States are now all 
in a universal warlike commotion. War, war, war ! 
fight, fight, fight ! is the perfect order of the times. 
Have the people counted the cost ? Are they prepared 
to shoulder the enormous expense, the awful taxation, 
which war must inevitably produce ? The seceding 
States may be prepared for all this. But is Virginia 
prepared for it ? What products has she by which to 
raise millions of surplus money at this time to carry on 
a civil war ? Already in debt as she is, and all her 
citizens involved head-and-heels, more or less, in debt, 
how are thousands and millions of money to be raised 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 107 

to begin and carry on an unending or an exterminating 
war? 

" Is it necessary that war shall come ? No : there 
is no necessity for it at all. Our national difficulties 
can be settled, and they ought to be settled, without 
war. Why is this great hurry to precipitate all the 
slave States out of the Union before Lincoln is inaugu- 
rated ? Can he free the negroes ? No. Can he move 
the forts and arsenals out of the South ? No. Can 
he force Southern men to act and fight against their 
own interests? No. Well, then, what can he do? If 
five States can secede in opposition to the wishes of 
President Buchanan, why cannot ten secede in opposi- 
tion to the will and wishes of Mr. Lincoln ? He can- 
not prevent them from seceding after he comes into 
power. And if he and his party were to make war on 
them for seceding after he gets into power, he and his 
party would be more apt to make war on them for 
seceding before he came into power. So that there is 
nothing possible to be gained by madly rushing out of 
the Union, and every thing to be lost. Let us, there- 
fore, not be too hasty in this matter. 

" The South will be forced to come to some understand- 
ing with the North in relation to the national property, 
commerce, &c. &c. This the slave States can do better 
while under the Federal Government and in the Union 
than after they take themselves out of the Union and 
from under the protection of the Federal Government. 

"Let the border States stand firm, and demand their 
rights; and, if they fail to obtain them, then let them 
all act in harmony, and go together. It will be time 
for them to act when they have used and exhausted all 
means for redress and failed to obtain it. 



108 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" The election of members to the Virginia State Con- 
vention comes off the 4th of February, and we would 
again caution our readers to be careful for whom they 
cast their votes ; and, when they shall have the action 
of the Convention referred back to them for their final 
decision, let them thoroughly understand the subject, 
and then act with as much deliberation as if their 
eternal salvation depended on the result of their action. 
If the border States do not secede, we think there is 
yet hope that all our national difficulties will be settled 
without war ; but, if they secede, we firmly believe that 
the result will be a general war between the whole of 
the free and of the slave States, — which will result 
either in the subjugation of the South by the North, or 
of the North by the South. 

"We are firm and decided in the stand which we first 
took, — namely: we are for saving the Union, if pos- 
sible; but, if this cannot be done in justice to the South, 
then we are for the South. But, because others should 
wish to rush hastily into ruin, this is no reason why 
we shall. Let conservative men deliberate and act 
with firmness, and the Republic may yet be saved." 

"Five States have declared to the world that they 
are out of the Union." It will be recollected that 
South Carolina seceded in December, 1860. In a Con- 
gressional correspondence, dated Washington, January 
21, 1861, the reporter says, — 

"Mr. Hunter, upon request, was excused from serv- 
ing any longer as chairman of the Committee of 
Finance, — stating, as the reason of his request, that 
his State was about to change her political position. 



• THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 109 

[How did Mr. Hunter know, three months in advance, 
that his State was going to secede ?] 

" Mr. Polk presented a memorial, with signatures 
covering fifteen quires of paper, all wrapped in the 
'American flag,' praying the adoption of the Crittenden 
resolutions as amendments to the Constitution. 

"Mr. Slidell moved to take up his resolution, in 
effect censuring the President for not earlier sending in 
the nomination of Mr. Holt as Secretary of War. 

" Mr. Yulee announced the receipt of official intelli- 
gence that his State [Florida] had seceded, and said 
that he and his colleagues were no longer Senators of 
the United States. He read a valedictory, in which he 
gave the reasons which induced Florida to secede. 
Mallory — Yulee's colleague — also delivered a vale- 
dictory. 

"Mr. Clay, of Alabama, in behalf of himself and Mr. 
Fitzpatrick, also withdrew from the Senate, in conse- 
quence of official intelligence of the secession of Ala- 
bama. 

"Mr. Davis announced the secession of Mississippi, 
and made a speech, after which the seceding Senators 
all rose and left the hall, — first taking leave of their 
old associates." 

A telegraphic despatch, dated Milledgeville,' January 
19, 1861, says, "The Convention, at 2 10 p.m. to- 
day, passed the ordinance of secession by a vote of 206 
to 89." 

Another despatch, dated Augusta, January 19, 
1861, says, "Our city is illuminated with fireworks, 
and cannons are firing, in honor of the secession of the 

10 



110 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

State. Bells are ringing, amid great enthusiasm and 
rejoicing. Georgia is free." 

While matters were thus progressing at the South, 
the conservative men at the North were holding meet- 
ings, and passing series of resolutions, in reference to the 
course which should be pursued towards the seceding 
States of the South. As a specimen of some of these 
resolutions, we give the following, adopted at a large 
and enthusiastic meeting held in the city of New York 
by the working-men of that city : — 

11 Resolved, That we regard the present movement of 
several of the Southern States, in resuming the powers 
they delegated to the General Government, as an effort 
to preserve our Constitution from being overthrown 
by Abraham Lincoln, as his party-platform requires 
and demands him to do. 

"Resolved, That we are for the Union, — the Union of 
our fathers ; for the Constitution, — the glorious charter 
of our liberties, — as expounded by the recognized au- 
thority, upon the basis of equal justice, liberty, and 
immunities to all the citizens of all the States." 

"Resolved, That, believing that the people of the 
Southern States are, and have ever been, content to 
remain in this Union under the Constitution as origin- 
ally designed, we deeply sympathize with them in 
their unwilling resistance to an incoming Administra- 
tion, which, by a perverted and unauthorized construc- 
tion of the Constitution, tends to destroy their peace, 
welfare, and happiness. 

"Resolved, That we are firmly and unalterably op- 
posed to any and every attempt on the part of the 
Government or the people of the North to coerce the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. Ill 

Southern States, or any one of them, into submission to 
the will of the majority of the people of the North, when 
that will has been authoritatively declared by the Su- 
preme Court to be in opposition to the true construction 
of the Constitution of the United States. 

" Resolved , That we will, by all proper and legitimate 
means, oppose, discountenance, and prevent the Bepub- 
lican party from making any aggressive attempt, under 
the plea of ' enforcing the laws' and ' preserving the 
Union,' upon the rights of the Southern States, be- 
lieving, as we do, that any such attempt can only result 
in a protracted and destructive civil war, to attain an 
end which that party can really and peaceably accom- 
plish by abandoning their hostility to the South, and 
declaring their willingness to abide -by the Constitution 
as interpreted by the Supreme Court and accepted by 
all conservative men of the country. 

"Resolved, That we regard the Eepublican party, 
which, to use the language of Jefferson, ' has wriggled 
itself into power under auspices of morality,' as em- 
bodying the policy that Great Britain has pursued for 
a quarter of a century in endeavoring to equalize the 
races on this continent, — to reduce white men to a for- 
bidden level with negroes, and thus overthrow not 
only the Union, but destroy the glorious free institu- 
tions which, seventy-six years ago, our fathers extorted 
from an unwilling despot ; and, if any additional evi- 
dence be needed to show the alliance of the , so-called 
Eepublican party with the monarchists of Great Bri- 
tain to dissolve this Union, regardless of its fearful 
consequences, it can be found in the fact that its recog- 
nized leaders in Congress have deliberately rejected 
Senator Crittenden's Compromise, although it is well 



112 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

known that it does not grant the South her full, just, 
and equal rights under the Constitution. 

11 Resolved, That we demand that our representatives 
and servants, (and not our rulers, as some ignorantly 
style them,) both in our national and State Legisla- 
tures, shall at once initiate movements for a peaceable 
solution of our difficulties, so that civil war may be 
avoided, and the wheels of business may again begin 
to move, and remunerating labor return to thousands 
now out of employment and suffering from the stubborn 
refusal of the Kepublican party to grant the South her 
just rights under the Constitution. 

11 Resolved, That the State Legislature be respectfully 
requested to convene the people of this State in con- 
vention, for the purpose of securing an expression of 
public sentiment upon the new and startling issues 
which a few weeks have so rapidly evolved; and the 
Chair is directed to appoint a committee of five gen- 
tlemen to present these resolutions and this request to 
the Legislature." 

We give the above resolutions in full, that the reader 
may understand that the secessionists of the South had 
assurances which were satisfactory to them that, under 
any and all circumstances, they would receive an over- 
whelming abundance of assistance from the North in 
the event that the "incoming Administration" should 
attempt, to " enforce the laws" under the pretence of 
preserving the Constitution and saving the Union. 
The conservative men at the North were as ignorant 
of the real spirit and determination of the secessionists 
of the South as were the Black Republicans of the real 
and true condition of the slaves of the South; while 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 113 

the secessionists of the South were equally ignorant of 
the spirit and determination of the conservative men 
of the North. We presume that the conservative men 
at the North had never anticipated an attack on the 
flag of the Union by secessionists. 

The secessionists had determined to accept of no 
compromise which might be offered. This they de- 
clared in the outset. Hence, with the leaders of the 
secession party, any and all compromise was a fore- 
gone conclusion. The conservative men at the North 
thought, or affected to think, that these leaders actually 
wanted a compromise, the Constitution respected, and 
the Union saved; whereas they had determined on im- 
mediate, complete, and eternal separation from the 
"old Union." Presuming, in part, at least, on the aid 
and assistance of the conservative men of the North, 
and the aid and assistance of "fifty thousand Knights of 
the Golden Circle," said to have been organized in the 
free States, they struck the fatal blow. Terrible was 
the disappointment, — -but just what every sensible man, 
under the circumstances, might have expected. 

We believe that the conservative men.at the North 
were honest and sincere in their assertions of friend- 
ship for and sympathy with the South. And, had the 
Southern States remained in the Union, and observed 
on their part the Constitution inviolate, and Mr. 
Lincoln had waged an aggressive war upon the South, 
for the ostensible purpose of liberating the slaves of the 
South, we honestly believe that hundreds of thousands 
of men in the free States would have risen up as one 
man and united with the South and annihilated the 
Black Kepublican party. But when the Southern 
States seceded, and first struck a blow at the sacred 

10* 



114 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

flag of our country, this was more than the con- 
servative element of the North had expected; and ; 
seeing that the secessionists were the aggressors, 
the inaugurators of civil war, they, by force of circum- 
stances, if not from principle and patriotism, became 
united, and resolved to protect and defend the time- 
honored flag of their country, preserve the Constitu- 
tion, and, if possible, save the Union. 

The intelligent reader cannot fail to observe, like- 
wise, that the expressed and published opinions of the 
conservative men of the North in relation to the fixed 
purpose of the Black Republican party in waging war 
upon the South in order to free the negroes were well 
calculated to rouse the suspicions and indignation of 
the Southern people. 

That the leaders of the Black Republican party, 
proper, wanted the Union dissolved, to the end that 
they might more speedily and effectually accomplish 
their unholy purpose in abolishing slavery in the South, 
they did not pretend to conceal. Knowing the ter- 
rible results that would necessarily follow in the event 
of breaking up the Government, we opposed it until 
we rendered ourself odious with the secession party, 
and wellnigh lost all our patronage before we discon- 
tinued the publication of the " Banner." 

The following chapter will show how fully and 
clearly we portrayed the horrors that would certainly 
befall Virginia in the event of her seceding. For all 
which faithful warning we are a refugee among 
strangers. Thank God, we have a clear conscience. 
"We intended good to our country, even if we did 
wrong. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 115 



CHAPTER XVII. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of the 
31st of January, 1861, under the head of " Random 
Thoughts Shot at a Venture," we wrote and published 
the following six short chapters, which have since the 
war began been denominated the " Predictions of the 
■ Christian Banner,' " how justly we leave the reader 
to decide: — 

"Chap. I. — Bead, Think, Determine, and Act! — Our 
soul is disgusted, our heart sickened, at the school-boy 
bombast and politician eloquence of the day. This is no 
time for tropes, figures, and rhetorically turned periods. 
Political stump-speaking has infused deadly poison into 
the heart of the whole body politic. War, pestilence, 
destruction, and death are at our very door, staring us 
full in the face, and yet upstart politicians, would-be 
statesmen, and leaders of the people dare to discuss 
and harangue the people on abstractions which the 
speakers themselves never can comprehend, and stop 
to read long sentences and paragraphs about the 
opinions of men who are dead and gone and have no 
part nor lot in the awful tragedies which are now being 
acted out all over our country. 

" Were the present political aspirants and seekers- 
to-be-leaders of the people influenced by the wisdom 
and patriotism of the immortal statesmen and patriots 
whose opinions they affect so ardently to admire, but 



116 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

which, they are incapable of appreciating, then our 
country would not be lacerated, rent, and torn into 
fragments, as she now is. 'Tis all a sham, a hypo- 
critical show, an empty bubble, a false pretension of 
patriotism, honor, virtue, truth, and justice. 

" Political tricksters and ecclesiastical knaves, urged 
and driven on by cupidity for wealth, position, and 
power, have reduced our country to the shameful state of 
degradation in which she is now held up to the asto- 
nished gaze and inexpressible derision of all the civilized 
nations of the world. And still freemen must acquiesce, 
must close their mouths, hold their peace, stifle their 
consciences, pander to the cupidity and yield to the 
will and implicitly obey the dictations of caucusing, 
intriguing, wire- working, life-absorbing, blood-sucking, 
political aspirants, or else be persecuted, proscribed, 
ostracized ! 

" Never, while we have brains to think, a heart to 
feel, a tongue to speak, a hand to write, and a soul to 
save, will we become the dupe of fools, cowards, knaves, 
and traitors, nor tamely and meanly submit to the 
gag-law of any political or ecclesiastical associations, 
confederations, or parties of men this side of eternity. 
Cowards, traitors, loungers, spongers, and loafers may 
shift, twist, turn, and change their political positions and 
religious relations with every popular tide that drifts the 
scurf and scum of all political degeneracy and eccle- 
siastical depravity to the surface, and for the sake of 
their bread and butter, grog and cigars, petty offices, 
and a little mushroom notoriety, succumb to the bid- 
dings and behests of their impudently-presumptuous, 
tyrannical leaders, while honest men, freemen, brave 



. THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 117 

men, and patriots, look on with pity supreme, and turn 
away with loathing and disgust inexpressible ! 

" ' Liberty or death !' should be the watchword of every 
American citizen. Liberty of conscience, liberty of 
speech, liberty of action, and liberty of the press, 
should be the uncompromising demand of all freemen, 
and they should submit to nothing less." 

" Chap. II. — It is argued that secession is constitu- 
tionally right. Grant it. But is it expedient? That 
is the question. Many things may be lawful which are 
by no means expedient. Secession or revolution, under 
certain circumstances, would not only be constitution- 
ally right, but absolutely necessary. Is this the case 
now ? Has the time actually come, and do the circum- 
stances absolutely demand the secession of any one or 
of all the slave States ? If it be unconditionally neces- 
sary for one to secede, does the same necessity demand 
that all shall secede? Has the work of secession and 
revolution commenced and progressed in a way to 
prove it expedient and to commend itself to the world? 

" The ostensible causes of secession are : first, to 
save the South from further Abolition aggressions ; and, 
secondly, to free the country from the continual agita- 
tion of the slave question. The objects sought to be 
gained by secession are : first, to permanently establish 
the institution of African slavery; secondly, to extend 
slave territory; and, thirdly, to reduce the price of 
slave labor. Will secession accomplish all this? Some 
seem to think so. They are woefully mistaken. 

"Never will the vexed question of African slavery 
cease to be agitated so long as there are Abolitionists 
in the North and slaves in the South. The fixed de- 



118 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

termination and settled principles of Abolitionists are, 
never, never to give up the conflict until African slavery 
is exterminated. This is their object, their design, 
their work. They do not pretend to disguise the fact. 
So that nothing can ever be gained by secession on this 
score. 

"Will secession save the South from further Abolition 
aggressions? If so, how? Secessionists say, 'We 
will form treaties and enter into leagues with the Abo- 
litionists after we secede, and, for the sake of our trade, 
they will spare our slaves.' Have they said so? Have 
they promised to do this? No: they have not, and 
they never will. Are they not bound by leagues and 
treaties now under the Constitution? and do they ob- 
serve them ? If they violate treaties and break leagues 
under the Constitution and while they are in the 
Union, what assurances have we that they will make 
leagues and treaties and observe them inviolate after 
they get out of the Union and are free from all constitu- 
tional restraints and obligations ? If they perpetrate 
depredations in the Union and under the influence of 
the Constitution, they will do it much more abundantly 
after the Federal Government is broken up. They will 
never enter into any treaties nor form any leagues 
with the South, on which the continuance and perpe- 
tuity of African slavery are contemplated. This is a 
fixed fact. 

" Dissolve the Union, break up the Federal Govern- 
ment, and will not the same proximity still exist be- 
tween the slave and free States that exists now? 

" Divide the Union, and the same morbid moral 
sentiment will remain in the hearts of Abolitionists that 
drives them o.n to daring deeds of madness now. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 119 

" Divide the Union, and a thousand new causes of hate 
and eternal animosity will spring up among all parties. 

"Divide the Union, break up the Federal Government 
in advance of terms and treaties of separation between 
the North and South, and the door for any subsequent 
equitable separation is forever closed, and the key lost 
in the depths of eternity. 

" Divide the Union, and the floodgate is hoisted 
through which a concentration of curses will flow that 
baffles all human thought to conceive. 

" Divide the Union, break up the Federal Government, 
and civil war begins, which will only end in the domi- 
nation of the South over the North, or of the North 
over the South. 

" Dissolve the Union, and military and ecclesiastical 
despotism, or absolute monarchies, will supplant the 
tree of liberty and all the blessings of freedom. 

" Dissolve the Union, break up the Federal Govern- 
ment, and the liberty of conscience, the liberty of speech, 
the liberty of action, the liberty of the press, and the 
liberty of a once free, independent, prosperous, and 
happy people, are gone, and gone forever. 

"Dissolve the Federal Government, and the reign of 
terror begins. 

"Dissolve the Union, and an era more to be dreaded 
than the dark ages commences. 

"Dissolve the Union, and the guillotine will take the 
place of the 'Star-Spangled Banner;' and whoever 
dares to speak a word against despots and tyrants, off 
will go his head. 

"Dissolve the Union, and the many, the dear people, 
the hard-working yeomanry, will all become the vassals 
of the few. 



120 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" Dissolve the Union, and all the poor will become 
the veriest menials of the lords and rulers of the people. 

" Are Virginians prepared for all these things ? If so, 
dissolve the Union, break up the Federal Government, 
and the work of death and desolation is done ! 

" If the slave States conquer the free States, then the 
institution of African slavery may continue for the next 
half-century; then will slave labor be reduced to an 
insignificant price; then may slave territory be ex- 
tended. But, before all this is gained, our country will 
be drenched in blood : most of those now living will 
never live to see slave territory expanded; they will 
never realize the glories of cheap slave- labor; they 
will never need it! Even should the South succeed, 
will the spoils be worth the fight, the crown, the sacri- 
fice? Answer us, mothers, you who have sons and love 
them ! Answer us, wives, you who have husbands and 
look up to and rely on them for protection ! Against 
a foreign enemy every citizen should lift his hand, and 
risk his life, and sacrifice all things for his country and 
his country's glory ! It is not so in the present case. 
They are bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, our 
brethren, our fellow-citizens. How, then, dare we, 
being brethren, as we are, go to war with one an- 
other? 

" But suppose the free States should conquer the slave 
States ? Then African slavery is exterminated ! Never 
would the victorious North enter into any treaty with 
the subdued South in which the continuance of African 
slavery were contemplated. The idea is supremely 
preposterous. If, therefore, the Federal Government 
be broken up, and civil war follow, — which it certainly 
will, — and the free States subjugate the slave States, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 121 

then African slavery, slave territory, and slave labor 
are all at an end. Extreme Abolitionists want the 
Federal Government broken up, because this, they say, 
will hasten the abolition of slavery. The present pro- 
cess is too slow for them. They want to accomplish 
the work at once. 

" Chap. III. — What can Virginia gain by seces- 
sion f — Suppose it were possible for a peaceable sepa- 
ration of the Union to be consummated, and that a 
Southern Confederacy of all the slave States were formed : 
what would Virginia gain by the operation ? How can 
she be benefited in the least conceivable degree by uniting 
her destiny with a cotton or Southern Confederacy ? The 
cotton States say they don't want to sell negroes, — they 
want to buy them at the lowest possible prices. Their 
income is from cotton and sugar produced by slave 
labor : therefore they want negroes to raise cotton and 
sugar. Hence it is to their interest to get negroes as 
cheap as possible. We say l their interest,' because they 
are going in for their own interest in dollars and cents. 
This no one will deny who understands the subject. 
Hence the process by which the cotton and sugar States 
are to be built up and enriched, should they succeed, is 
the very process by which Virginia is to be pulled 
down, impoverished, and degraded. 

" For example, a Virginia farmer owes a cotton- 
planter ten thousand dollars, and has no means by 
which to raise the money, except from the sale of either 
his land or his negroes. He dislikes to give up his home, 
and if he were to propose to sell it to the planter, 'No/ 
says the planter, ' I don't want your land : it is of no use 

to me : I cannot transport it to South Carolina, Georgia, 

11 



122 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Florida, &c. &c. ; but I will take negroes at fair valua- 
tion to the amount of my claim, otherwise you must 
pay me the cash.' 

" l What is a fair valuation?' asks the Virginia debtor. 

"'I can buy first-rate cotton-field hands,' says the 
cotton-planter, ' for $250 per head ; but as you owe me, 
and are in a ' tight place,' in order to favor you I will 
allow you $300 per head for good field-hands, but not 
a cent more! 

11 So the rich cotton-planter, to satisfy the insignificant 
claim of ten thousand dollars, drives off thirty-three ne- 
groes, good field-hands,who to him are as valuable as if 
he had paid one thousand dollars per head for them. 

" Can Virginia afford to raise negroes at $300 per 
head? No; she cannot. Hence it will be observed 
that precisely in the same ratio as negroes depreciate 
in value, Virginia is impoverished, and the cotton 
and sugar States are built up and enriched. We have 
never yet heard the first good reason given by any 
one why Virginia should secede; nor can any one 
point out a single blessing that will be received by 
her in the event of her seceding, unless the abolition 
of slavery from her territory be a blessing. 

" Look at the present state of things in Virginia and 
in the South. Large slave-holders in Virginia, who, 
twelve months ago, were supposed to be worth one 
hundred thousand dollars, are now not worth more than 
two-thirds of that amount ; and the day that Virginia 
passes the ordinance of secession, negro property in 
Virginia will become comparatively valueless. The 
cotton and sugar States are not at all affected by the 
depreciation in the value of negroes in Virginia, be- 
cause, if there should be a decline in cotton and sugar, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 123 

the price in labor is so much cheaper that they can 
need only raise more produce to make up for the loss in 
prices. 

" Virginias action of secession is virtually Virginia's 
action for the abolition of all her slave 'property. Se- 
cession is virtually abolitionism. Secession is submis- 
sion. We are no abolitionist ; we are no submissionist ; 
and, therefore, we are no secessionist. If this be treason, 
our head is ready for the guillotine ! But who is the 
executioner ?" 

" Chap. IV. What will Virginia lose by secession ? — 
If Virginia secede from the Federal Government, she 
will certainly lose all her negro property. 

" She will lose thousands of her noblest sons and fair- 
est daughters. 

" She will lose her money and credit, and wind up in 
bankruptcy and ruin. 

" She will lose her horses, corn, meat, silver- ware, and 
valuable household-furniture by midnight assassins, 
plunderers, and highway-robbers ; banditti will prowl 
and swarm through the country worse than Egyptian 
locusts. 

" She will lose many of her fine residences, beautiful 
villages, and thriving towns. 

"She will lose all her peace, quiet, and happiness 
during the whole period of a long-protracted civil 
war. 

" She will lose many of her sanctuaries, and the regu- 
lar, undisturbed public worship of Almighty God. 

" She will lose the kind feeling, friendship, affection, 
and love which now exist among friends, neighbors, 
citizens, and relatives. 



124 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

u She will lose her schools, academies, and colleges, 
and all facilities of educating her youth. 

" She will lose all she has gained in agricultural im- 
provements, all her prosperity and thrift. 

"Her territory will become a common battle-field, and 
her soil be saturated with the blood of the wounded, 
dead, and dying. 

"In a word, she will lose all that she now holds near, 
dear, and sacred, and her history, honor, and glory 
will end in seas of blood, when the din and strife of the 
battle-field and the thunders of civil war shall have 
passed away. 

" Is Virginia prepared for all these things ? If she 
be, then let her secede, and the sooner the better." 

"Chap. V. Has every possible effort been made to save 
the Union ? — Has every possible effort been made to save 
the Union that statesmen and patriots ought to have 
made ? Why did not Southern Senators and Congressmen 
take their stand in the Senate-Chamber and Congress 
halls, with the Constitution in one hand, and, if neces- 
sity demanded it, a bayonet in the other, and swear by 
the God of their fathers that the Federal Government 
should be honored and maintained, and that the South 
should have her rights in the Union, or that their own 
lives should be sacrificed on the altar of liberty, on the 
altar of their country ? Then all patriots' hearts 
would have beaten in unison, and Abolitionists would 
have quailed before the influence of the united band 
of American patriots, and peace and prosperity would 
have continued. 

" Did not most of the Eepresentatives from the cotton 
and sugar-growing States manifest a spirit of morbid 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 125 

indifference to the interests of the Federal Govern- 
ment, from the beginning of the present session of 
Congress up to the time they resigned their seats ? 
Why was this? Because, prior to the session of 
Congress, they had determined to secede from the 
Union, and, therefore, felt no interest in the welfare of 
the Union, and did nothing to save it, but every thing 
they could do to break it up. Have not their leading 
men said that neither the enactment of the ' Personal 
Liberty Bills,' 'nor the election of Abraham Lincoln' 
to the Presidency of these United States, was the cause 
of their secession, for that they had desired for 'up- 
wards of thirty years' to separate themselves from 
the Union? 

"And, finally, when Virginia officially sends her mes- 
senger, Judge Robertson, to advise and consult with them 
in this extreme hour of peril, South Carolina officially 
spurns him, and resolves to enter into no consultation 
with him for the sake of the public good. And now 
we are told that if the seceding States will return 
to the Union, Virginia will not secede ; but, unless 
they do, Virginia must secede, — she must go with her 
Southern sister States. Gentlemen tell us that it is a 
disgrace, a degradation, to submit to and live under the 
Administration of Mr. Lincoln. Then the idea is simply 
this : if the cotton States will submit to the infamy 
of serving under the incoming Administration, Vir- 
ginia will ! This is cool impudence, is it not ? If it 
be no disgrace to serve under the incoming Admi- 
nistration with the cotton States, it is no disgrace to 
serve under it without the cotton States. And, on the 
other hand, if it be a dishonor to serve under the in- 
coming Administration without the cotton States, it is 

11* 



126 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

a dishonor to serve under it with the cotton States. 
Why, then, do gentlemen tell us that unless the cotton 
States return into the Union, Virginia ought to go and 
must go out of the Union ? Are they serious when they 
talk to us in this way? Do they wish the cotton States 
to come back into the Union and thus disgrace them- 
selves and cause Virginia to be dishonored? Why, 
then, place the secession of Virginia on any such ridicu- 
lous condition ? The fact is, gentlemen who argue in 
this style want no compromise, and they are de- 
termined to accept no compromise, however acceptable 
and satisfactory it might be to the people. 

" Why did not the cotton States and the whole South 
secede in the winter of 1859 and 1860, immediately 
after the ' John Brown raid' ? Were not these obnox- 
ious laws about which so much complaint is now made 
on the statute-books of the Northern States then? 
Why was not the Federal Government broken up then? 
Have any new developments come to light since ? 
Why, then, this upheaving of heaven and earth to pre- 
cipitate all the Southern States out of the Union before 
the commencement of the incoming Administration ? 
Are Virginians to be scared and driven headlong and 
blindly into ruin ? Will freemen be forced into mea- 
sures? No, never, never, while God reigns, and 
truth, justice, patriotism, and liberty remain among 
mortals! We repel a threat, whether it comes from 
men or demons, from earth or perdition ! 

"We claim rights, and are determined to have our 
rights ; and if Virginia and all the border States will 
stand firm, shoulder to shoulder, we confidently believe 
that we can yet obtain all our rights in the Union 
and under the Federal Government. It will be at- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 127 

tended with much less expense and hazard for the States 
which have already seceded to return to the Federal 
Government, than for all the border States to follow 
in the wake of the seceding States. And if they shall 
never wish to return, let them remain in peace. Let 
no blood be spilt." 

" Chap. VI. — The cotton States have made their elec- 
tion, and are rejoicing at it. They all claim to be 
sovereign, independent republics. They boast of their 
ability to protect themselves, but, should they need 
help, they are looking to England and France. Strange 
alliance this ! But England and France want ' King 
Cotton,' and the cotton States want cheap labor, — that 
is, negroes for about $150 per head. 

" The cotton States, in making their election, con- 
sulted neither the wishes nor the interest of Virginia, 
nor those of any of the border States. They have acted 
with reference to their own secular interests and indi- 
vidual safety, and that only. Is Virginia, therefore, 
under any obligation whatever to follow these States out 
of the Union ? ISTo ; and if she should, she will act with 
more imbecility than we had supposed her capable of. 
Virginia and the border States have now to look to 
their own safety and interest, and in doing that they 
may, if they will, save the whole country from desola- 
tion and ruin. Let them remain in the Union and 
avail themselves of the provisions of the Federal Go- 
vernment, and demand their constitutional rights, and 
if they fail to obtain them, and after all are forced to 
light, let them fight with the 'Stars and Stripes' 
floating over the battle-ground. But if Virginia and 
the other border States remain firm, we confidently 



128 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

believe that the whole difficulty will at last be settled 
amicably, and that no blood will be spilt. The States 
that have already gone out of the Union, or any others 
that may hereafter go, let them go and remain in peace. 
The idea of instituting civil war to force them to come 
back into the Union is ludicrous ! 

"Take time, and let the people, North and South, 
fully understand the subject and weigh all the conse- 
quences, and, upon reflection, we believe that the concen- 
trated good sense, patriotism, and influence of the con- 
servative element within the Federal Government, 
North and South, will save the country from war and 
bloodshed I" 

ANNOTATIONS ON THE ABOVE CHAPTERS. 

Chap. I. " School-boy bombast." — It will be remem- 
bered that, at the time the above chapters were written, 
little politicians and small lawyers were making flow- 
ery speeches on the positive beauties and anticipated 
glories of secession, which were well calculated to tickle 
the ear and please the fancy of superficial thinkers, 
or rather of those who were not capable of think- 
ing and of reasoning logically on any subject. These 
bombastic stump -speakers, by trying to make a show 
of learning, eloquence, and deep research into the mys- 
tical and abstruse subjects which were agitating the 
whole nation, played upon the passions and presumed 
upon the ignorance and credulity of their hearers, and, 
we are sorry to say, with too serious effect. 

14 Upstart politicians.' 11 — During the reign of the 
"Order of the Sons of Temperance" in Virginia, hun- 
dreds of orators were manufactured out of all sorts of 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 129 

material, which but for that order would never have had 
even a mushroom notoriety, but would have remained 
quietly in their even and unbroken line of obscurity 
until the general resurrection. In like manner, seces- 
sion became all of a sudden the great manufacturing 
machine for orators, and fathers became astounded at 
the latent powers of eloquence and the deep unfathom- 
able fountain of political wisdom, patriotism, and chi- 
valry which burst forth from the precocious boys. 
These new orators and wee politicians never failed to 
have a crowd of brainless hearers, who were always 
surcharged with gas, cocked and primed, ready to huzza ! 
huzza ! huzza ! whenever the orators spoke of the " blue- 
necked, white-livered Yankees," the " old black-hearted 
Abolitionist, Abe Lincoln." And when they would 
speak, as they always did, of the "Union-shriekers," 
the " followers and admirers of old Abe Lincoln," the 
" traitors of the South," u men unworthy to be called 
the sons of Virginia, and who ought to leave the South, 
because they left the slime behind them as they walked 
the streets of Fredericksburg," the huzzas were abso- 
lutely deafening. These were some of the ignoble, un- 
manly, unfair, lying, and rascally means resorted to by 
secessionists to "fire up the Southern heart" and to 
force Virginia out of the Union. 

" Proscribed, — ostracized." — It is needless to inform 
the reader that the " Banner" had become odious with all 
secessionists, not only in the cotton and sugar States, 
but even in Virginia ; and while we were writing and 
publishing our articles in favor of the Union, and op- 
posing the secession of Virginia, we were receiving from 
five to twenty discontinuances to our paper almost 
every day. We saw that the unalterable determina- 



130 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

tion of secessionists was either to coerce every man 
of influence into secession, or crush him into annihila- 
tion, damn him, his business and his influence. 

" Change their political positions." It was truly 
astonishing to witness the rapidity with which men 
wheeled into the secession ranks, — and men, too, who 
had been as violently opposed to the locofoco party — 
which was the Breckinridge secession party — as they 
were to Lincoln and the Black Republican party. Some 
men had told us during the Presidential canvass that 
they had rather see Lincoln elected than Breckinridge; 
and, strange to say, these were among the first men to 
change their political status as soon as secession was 
openly advocated and began to be popular; because it 
was boldly proclaimed by orators and editors of the 
secession fraternity that Union men who longer opposed 
the South— that is, secession— would not be counte- 
nanced nor trusted with any post of honor or office of 
profit, either in the civil or military departments of the 
Southern Confederacy. And it is a well-known fact in 
Virginia that the secession papers in Richmond opposed 
the promotion of any and all men who were not ori- 
ginal secessionists. Why did the " Richmond Examiner," 
for example, so virulently oppose the Hon. Alexander 
Hamilton Stephens's being a candidate for the Vice- 
Presidency of the Southern Confederacy, in the spring 
of 1862? Simply because of his " antecedents," — his 
strong Union proclivities. Mr. Stephens was originally 
an uncompromising Union man, and this with the "Ex- 
aminer" was a crime sufficient to damn him, politically, 
in all coming time. As the secession road grew wider 
and wider, or as secession became more and more popu- 
lar, thousands upon thousands pressed together and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 131 

walked therein to their own destruction and the hurt and 
ruin of all others. " There is a way," says Holy Writ, 
" that seemeth good unto a man, but the end thereof is 
death." If secession be not the direct and unmistaka- 
ble road to political and national death, that seemed 
good unto secessionists, then there is no reliance to be 
placed in facts. 

Chap. II. "Is this the case now ?" — We had never 
supposed that Virginia had been oppressed to such a 
degree by the Federal Government as to justify her in 
revolting against that Government. Having been a 
citizen of the State of Virginia for more than twenty-five 
years, during a considerable portion of which time we 
have been both a free-holder and the owner of slaves, 
we claim to have some knowledge of the condition of 
affairs in that State ; and our honest conviction is that 
Virginia was never in a more prosperous condition than 
she was in at the time of Mr. Lincoln's election. Nor do 
we believe that there was any just reason why the tide 
of prosperity that was flowing over her whole territory 
should have been retarded or interrupted by the election 
of Mr. Lincoln. We presume that, by the present 
time, thousands of Virginians think as we do. 

"The ostensible causes of secession." — One grand and 
never-failing argument, employed and urged with great 
vehemence by the advocates of secession to force Virginia 
out of the Union, was that it would save the South 
from further Abolition aggressions, and free the State and 
country from the continual agitation of the slave question. 
Has secession accomplished this ? Let facts speak for 
themselves. We told Virginians that they would bring 
Canada to their very doors if they voted the State out 



132 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

of the Union. They laughed at our folly, mocked at 
our kind admonitions and warnings, and branded us as 
"a traitor to the South," "an enemy to Virginia," "a 
submissionist to old Abe Lincoln," and an "Abolition- 
ist." We bore it all with patience, and were willing to 
endure a thousand times more, if we could have saved 
our happy, beloved country. But judicial blindness 
had seized the people ; they were demented. 

"The objects sought to be gained." — The Virginia ad- 
vocates of secession argued that secession would per- 
manently establish the institution of slavery, and extend 
slave territory over millions of acres of land, thus 
opening a great and effectual door to make slavery 
more valuable in Virginia than it had ever been; 
whereas, unless Virginia did secede, an Abolition cordon 
was being established, by which negroes in the State 
would soon become valueless either for sale or hire, — and 
then what would become of men, and whole families, who 
were dependent on the sale and hire of their negroes 
for support? This would be a terrible calamity on 
Virginia, — that is to say, a terrible calamity upon the 
proud, broken-down, mushroom aristocrats and first 
families of Virginia! God knows, there are more 
would-be aristocrats and would-be aristocratic families 
in Virginia than can be found anywhere on the same 
area of territory this side of either heaven or hell. To 
this class of citizens, the idea of negroes becoming 
valueless was terrible, — yea, more terrible by far than 
civil war with all its concomitant horrors ! 

While secessionists in Virginia were anxious to force 
the State out of the Union for the purpose of perma- 
nently establishing the institution of slavery and ad- 
vancing the value of slave property and slave labor, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 133 

the Gulf States wished to secede for one prominent 
reason, among others, that they might reopen, with 
impunity, the African slave-trade, for the purpose of 
securing cheap slave labor. Such were some of the 
unhallowed motives by which the ambitious and ungodly 
leaders in this infernal rebellion were influenced to 
break up the Government of the United States, and 
introduce and establish an order of things more in 
accordance with their own proud, ungodly, and ambi- 
tious aspirations. Have their sanguine hopes been 
realized ? Let facts answer the question. 

"They will never enter into any treaties." — We be- 
lieve that African slavery, especially in Virginia, will 
virtually wind up with this war. When the war ends, 
there will be but few negroes in the State, and they will 
be of but little value. Secession was the death-blow to 
African slavery, not only in Virginia, but in the whole 
South, as is now constantly being demonstrated. Nor 
do we believe that any treaties will ever be made by the 
Federal Government and the South which will give 
any guarantee to the latter for the safety and perpetuity 
of the institution of African slavery. 

" Vassals of the few." — If the Gulf States could have 
succeeded, and the African slave-trade been reopened, 
the fate of poor white men in the South would have 
been forever sealed. And if the Southern Confederacy 
had her independence now, and a negro-oligarchy were 
established, what would be the condition of "poor white 
people" in that Confederacy? Every sensible man of 
observation in the South and in the slave States can 
readily answer this question. 

"Divide the Union." — Does not the same proximity 

exist between the slave and free States, with the addi- 

12 



134 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

tional fact that Virginia is wellnigli abolitionized ? 
Does not the same morbid moral sentiment still remain 
in the hearts of Abolitionists, with the additional fact 
that it becomes more and more intense ? Have not a 
thousand new causes of hate and animosity sprung up 
among all parties ? Is not the door for any subsequent 
equitable separation forever closed, and the key lost in 
the depths of eternity ? Has not the flood-gate been 
hoisted through which a concentration of curses flows 
that baffles all human thought to conceive ? Has not 
civil war begun, which will only end in the domination 
of the South over the North, or of the North over the 
South ? Has not a military despotism supplanted the 
tree of liberty and all the blessings of freedom ? Are 
not the liberty of conscience, of speech, of action, of the 
press, and the liberty of a once free, independent, pros- 
perous, and happy people, gone forever? Has not the 
reign of terror commenced, and is it not progressing ? 
Has not an era more to be dreaded than the dark ages 
commenced ? Is not every one who dares to speak a word 
against despots and tyrants proscribed, — ostracized? 
Have not the many, the dear people, the hard-working 
yeomanry, become the vassals of the few ? If they 
have not, why are they forced from their homes and 
driven off like sheep, at the point of the bayonet, to 
gratify the hellish ambition and to try to carry out the 
plans of a few leaders ? Answer us, will you ? If 
such be the state of things in this early period of the 
rebellion, what will it be before it ends? — and, should 
a permanent dissolution be effected, what would the 
poor whites do in slave States ? 

Chap. IV. " What will Virginia lose by secession?" 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 135 

— Has she not already lost nearly one-half of her 
negro population ? Has she not lost thousands of her 
noblest sons and fairest daughters, her money and 
credit? Is she not already bankrupt and ruined? 
Has she not lost her horses and stock, corn and meat, 
silver- ware and valuable household-furniture? — many 
of her fine residences, beautiful villages, and thriving 
towns? — her peace, quiet, and happiness? — her sanc- 
tuaries, and the regular, undisturbed worship of Al- 
mighty God? — the kind feeling, friendship, affection, 
and love which existed among friends, neighbors, 
citizens, and relatives? — her schools, academies, col- 
leges, and all facilities of educating her youth? — all 
she has gained in agricultural improvements, her pros- 
perity and thrift ? Her territory has become a com- 
mon battle-field, and her soil is saturated with the 
blood of the wounded, dead, and dying. She is losing 
all that she holds near, dear, and sacred, and her 
history, honor, and glory are being ended in seas of 
blood, and will thus end, when the din and strife of the 
battle-field and the thunders of civil war shall have 
passed away. All these things has Virginia already 
lost ; and the half can never be told, and the end is not 
yet. 

Chap. V. " Virginia officially sends her commis- 
sioner." — In proof of the correctness of our remarks 
relative to the course pursued towards Judge Eobert- 
son, who was officially sent from Virginia to consult 
with the authorities of South Carolina, we here give a 
series of resolutions which were unanimously adopted 
by the Legislature of South Carolina, in reference to 
Judge Robertson and the character of his mission : — 



136 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" Charleston, Jan. 28.— The Legislature has adopted 
the following resolutions : — 

11 Resolved, unanimously, That the General Assembly 
of South Carolina tenders to the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia their acknowledgment of the friendly motives 
which inspired the mission intrusted to Judge Robert- 
son, her commissioner. 

11 Resolved, unanimously, That candor which is due 
to the long-continued sympathy and respect which has 
long subsisted between Virginia and South Carolina' 
induces the Assembly to declare, with frankness, that 
they do not deem it advisable to initiate negotiations 
when they have no desire or intention to promote the 
ultimate object in view. That object is declared in the 
resolution of the Virginia Legislature to be the pro- 
curement of amendments to, or new guarantees in, the 
Constitution of the United States. 

" Resolved, unanimously, That the separation of 
South Carolina from the Federal Union is final, and 
she has no further interest in the Constitution of the 
United States, and that the only appropriate negotia- 
tions between her and the Federal Government are as 
to their mutual relations as foreign States. 

11 Resolved, unanimously, That this Assembly further 
owes it to her friendly relations to the State of Vir- 
ginia to declare that they have no confidence in the 
Federal Government of the United States; that the 
most solemn pledges of that Government have been dis- 
regarded ; that, under pretence of preserving property, 
hostile troops have been attempted to be introduced 
into one of the fortresses of this State, concealed in the 
hold of a vessel of commerce, with a view to subjugate 
the people of South Carolina ; and that even since the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 137 

authorities at Washington have been informed of 
the present mediation of Virginia, a vessel of war has 
been sent to the South, and troops and munitions of 
war concentrated on the soil of Virginia. 

"Resolved, unanimously, That, under these circum- 
stances, this Assembly, in the renewed assurances of 
cordial respect and esteem for the people of Virginia, 
and high consideration for her commissioner, decline 
entering into the negotiations proposed." 

The Legislature, or General Assembly, declared "that 
the separation of South Carolina from the Federal 
Union is final," and the secession orators of Virginia 
declared that they would never "submit to the Ad- 
ministration of Abe Lincoln;" that before they would 
do this they would leave Virginia and locate some- 
where within the bounds of the anticipated Southern 
Confederacy; that they wanted no compromise, — all 
they wanted was a final and eternal separation from 
the "old Union," which had now become to them 
odious; that it was a degradation, a dishonor, to 
Virginia, the Old Dominion, the "Mother of States 
and of Statesmen," to submit to Black Eepublican rule; 
and then they would argue that unless some compro- 
mise was adopted, that would bring back the seceded 
States into the Union, Virginia must secede. Hence 
we asked, "Are gentlemen honest, are they sincere, 
when they talk to us thus ?" 

The fact is, the original leaders in this accursed 
rebellion never intended to accept of any compromise 
that might be offered; and all their temporizing about 
conventions and this, that, and the other measure was 
only to gain time and opportunity to prepare the pas- 
sions of the people for secession, and to swindle them 

12* 



138 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

out of their rights and drive them into the same abyss 
of treason with themselves. 

11 Immediately after the John Brown raid." — Why- 
did not Virginia and the whole South secede imme- 
diately after the John Brown raid? Because the 
Southern heart had not been sufficiently fired up. The 
leaders had not made all the necessary preparations. 
Floyd had not sent all the munitions of war belonging 
to the Federal Government down South. The loeo-foco 
party had not been defeated; they were living and 
faring sumptuously on the spoils of the " hateful old 
Union ;" they were afraid then to talk openly before 
the dear people about breaking up the Federal Govern- 
ment, — the old Union. And during the Presidential 
canvass even the Breckinridge party denied the charge 
of being disunionists, and of intending to secede: 
Newton and Yancey were isolated exceptions. They 
kept the people in the dark as to the true and real 
policy they intended to pursue. The party was de- 
feated, and so soon as defeat came, and they could no 
longer rule the Government, they determined to ruin 
the country; and they have proved but too successful. 
But, thank God, in ruining the innocent and in trying 
to upset and overthrow the Government, they them- 
selves, or at least some of them, will get upset, over- 
thrown, and ruined forever. This is one of the games 
in which the actors, as well as those acted upon, may 
receive a hurt, a deadly wound. And we predict that, 
by the time this war is fully ended, but few of the 
leaders in the rebellion will be found living in the 
United States to enjoy the spoils. 

" Let no blood be spilt." — "We had prayed and 
hoped that some compromise might be made by which 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 139 

to keep the border States in the Union, in which event 
we trusted that the few States which had already- 
seceded might be brought, in process of time, to see 
their error and come back again into the Union. And 
we still believe that if the border States had all taken 
a firm, decided stand in the Union and for the Union, 
the whole difficulties could, and ultimately would, have 
been settled without the shedding of so much blood. 
The preceding chapters, it will be remembered, were 
written during the time that conventions were being 
held all over the country for the purpose of compro- 
mising the national difficulties. Men, from force of 
circumstances, were constantly changing, — hopeful to- 
day, but doubting again to-morrow. After having 
written the leading editorials of the 31st of January, 
1861, we find the following paragraph immediately fol- 
lowing in the last column containing our editorials. 
Intelligence received from Charleston, South Carolina, 
induced us to write it. 

"We fear, from all that we can learn, that, before the 
Commissioners at Washington shall be able to meet and 
effect any thing for the permanent adjustment of our 
national difficulties, the seceding States will plunge 
the country into civil war. There is but little doubt 
that an attack will be made on Fort Sumter in a 
very short time. South Carolina seems bent and de- 
termined at every hazard to break up the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Her reckless course is destined to bring 
down upon her the unqualified condemnation of all 
sensible men and true patriots." 

The great mystery to secessionists has always seemed 



140 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

to be how we can so bitterly oppose secession and still 
be a friend to the South. We think that the scenes 
now being acted out before the eyes of all are a sufficient 
solution of the problem. There never was a man born 
on Southern soil who was, or is, or can be more de- 
voted to the South than we are, and, as we have often 
said, our uncompromising devotion to the South causes 
us to utterly detest secession, because secession has 
ruined the South. We love the South and the people 
of the South, but the leaders of secession we abhor. 
And all true friends of liberty and republican gov- 
ernment will abhor and detest them in all coming 
time. It is because of our devotion to the South that 
we are a refugee to-night. We love the South, but we 
love the Union more. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THERE'S HOPE FOR THE UNION — UNION CANDIDATES 
ELECTED TO THE STATE CONVENTION BY A LARGE 
MAJORITY — GENERAL REMARKS, ETC. ETC. 

In the " Christian Banner" under date of February 
7, 1861, we wrote and published the following editorial, 
under the head of " Random Thoughts Shot at a Ven- 
ture:" — 

"In the far-off distance light appears, the clouds 
begin to dissipate, hope revives, and quiet, peace, and 
happiness may yet be restored to the bosom of our 
lacerated country. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 141 

" Virginia, like a towering colossus, stands sublimely- 
grand in all her dignity, looking down with sympathy 
and compassion at the waywardness, recklessness, and 
stubbornness of her less influential sisters. 

" Neither the terrible thunders of the North, nor the 
lashing, furious billows of the South, though rolling 
mountain -high, can move her from her firm, dignified, 
independent position. Well may her sons feel proud 
of their birthplace, and her fair daughters boast that 
they were born on her sacred soil. 

"We confidently trust that the action of Virginia 
is the harbinger of our political salvation and that of 
our whole country. The destiny of more than thirty 
millions of souls — may we not rather say a nation's 
destiny? — depends upon Virginia's action. She will 
submit to no wrong ; she will compromise her honor 
with no people; she will demand nothing but what is 
just and fair, — her equal rights. And these she will 
have. 

" If, after Congress has failed, and every compromise 
hitherto presented to restore peace to our country has 
proved futile, Virginia should now, in the very last 
hour of peril, work out the salvation of the nation, 
even Washington in heaven may have cause for deeper 
joy and increased happiness, and boast among angels 
that his was the honor of being born on Virginia soil, — 
that his was the honor of saving that soil from the 
curse of British tyranny, — and that Virginia has, or can 
have, the imperishable honor of driving back to their 
lurking-holes the hateful Black Kepublicanism and 
fanaticism of the North, and of quelling, harmonizing, 
and calming down the wild and wicked insurgents of 
the South. 



142 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" From the election-returns of candidates to the Vir- 
ginia Convention, we discover that the State is con- 
servative, by an overwhelming majority, and, also, that 
a large majority-vote is given to refer the action of the 
convention to the people, either for their rejection or 
approval and ratification. This is as it should be. The 
sovereign power is lodged in the people. If they wish 
to go out of the Union, let them vote themselves out, 
and then they will have no one to blame. This will 
give the people time to think on the subject, and will 
enable them to vote more intelligently and safely. 

"Let the kindest fraternal feelings exist among us 
all, remembering that we are all brethren. We are far 
from believing that the Union or conservative members 
of the convention will in the least degree compromise 
the rights and honor of Virginia. Should they fail, 
however, to obtain sufficient guarantees for her safety 
and the protection of her rights under the Federal 
Government, then they will act as one man in defend- 
ing her safety and securing her rights in every honor- 
able way, with firmness and promptness. This is all 
we ask ; it is all we can expect ; it is all we wish. 

"Whatever securities Virginia may be willing to 
accept will, we think, be satisfactory to all the border 
States, and should be so to all the slave States. Con- 
servative men will yield no sooner to the aggressions 
of the North than will secessionists. It is the wish 
of conservative men to exhaust all possible means and 
make every honorable effort to restore peace and har- 
mony; but, if they fail at last, then they will all 
strike together, — strike a blow that will be terrible in 
its results. Let Black Eepublicans remember this. 
Secessionists, as we understand them, think that all 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 143 

efforts have been made, and, having given up in despair 
of ever reconciling difficulties, are in favor of imme- 
diate, unconditional secession, at the dread hazard of 
civil war and all the terrible consequences resulting 
therefrom. We oppose rash and hasty action, when 
all we have and all we are is at stake." 

" Overwhelming majority." — The majority of votes 
cast for Union candidates to the Virginia Convention 
was upwards of sixty thousand. With this majority 
in favor of the Union, we could hardly suppose it pos- 
sible that Virginia could be dragged out of the Union. 
But we were deceived in our calculation so far as the 
action of the convention was concerned; but, so far 
as regards the voluntary action of the people of the 
State of Virginia we were not mistaken. Virginia was 
lied, swindled, and forced out of the Union, as the 
sequel of this work will prove. Never was there a 
system of greater, damnable political villany and 
downright rascality imposed on any people since God 
made the world, than that which was imposed on the 
people of Virginia by the leading secessionists of the 
State and by the members of the State Convention, as 
we shall show in a subsequent chapter. At the close 
of the above editorial of February 7, 1861, we wrote 
the two short paragraphs following : — 



A thousand guns for the ' Old Dominion' on 
the result of the late election for candidates to the Vir- 
ginia Convention! Now, if she saves the Federal 
Government and causes the l Stars and Stripes' to con- 
tinue floating over our homes, she shall be entitled to 
ten thousand guns from every prominent town and 



144 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

city in the State, and glory, honor, and salvation to her 
sacred soil forever." . 

" f^T* When we hear fellows boasting of their 
bravery, and expressing such great anxiety to fight ! 
fight ! fight ! we think to ourself, ' Poor boys ! when 
the poetry and glory of fighting shall have passed 
away, and stern realities come, many of you will wish 
yourselves at home holding on to your mammas' apron- 
strings.'" 

11 Hope revives."— Virginia had given a sweeping Union 
majority vote. The Border States Convention was in 
session at Washington City, and a telegraphic despatch 
from Washington stated that " Ex-President Tyler, on 
taking the chair to-day, [the 5th of February, 1861,] 
delivered an address which was eulogized by those pre- 
sent as highly patriotic and conciliatory." General 
Scott had thrown troops into Washington City for its 
defence, and considered the city a safe place of re- 
sidence on the 4th of the approaching March. Mary- 
land had not seceded, and seemed to stand firm for 
the Union, — as she still continues to do. Things 
seemed to be brightening up ; and Union men in Vir- 
ginia began to feel hopeful that the border States 
would all remain in the Union, and thus save the 
country from one common ruin. True, there were 
many disheartening circumstances when we took an 
impartial view of things on the other side. Secession- 
ists in Virginia were moving every power and strain- 
ing every nerve to carry Virginia out of the Union. 
The seceding States were seizing Government property 
everywhere within their territory, thus provoking a 
collision, if possible, with the Federal Government. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 145 

Most of the foreign ministers at Washington City 
had sent off despatches to their respective Govern- 
ments, stating that the Government of the United 
States was practically dissolved. Lieutenant James 
Jewett, United States Navy, had been arrested at Pen- 
sacola by the State authorities of Florida, who would 
not permit him to depart unless upon his parole of 
honor that he would never take up arms against the 
State of Florida. Senator Crittenden, of Kentucky, upon 
hearing of this outrage being perpetrated upon a gal- 
lant son of his own State, became indignant, and advised 
Lieutenant Jewett to proceed at once to the Secretary 
of the Navy and report the facts, which he did. War- 
like preparations continued to progress at Charleston, 
South Carolina, and an attack on Fort Sumter was 
daily expected. The times were indeed trying to the 
hearts and feelings of all true patriots. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



In the number of the " Christian Banner"' of Feb- 
ruary 14, 1861, under the head of " Random Thoughts 
Shot at a Venture," we wrote and published the follow- 
ing leading editorial, and several shorter paragraphs : — 

" SUNDRIES. 

" We have always scorned to dabble in the muddy 
waters of political strife. Having fixed principles as a 
citizen, we have ever tried to observe them. For 

13 



146 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

the last twelve months, however, we have written more 
or less almost every week on the fearful calamities 
which threaten our glorious country. 

" We saw the perilous condition of the Kepublic, and 
in our zeal, we have written to try to help save it. 
We knew that, if our country were broken up and 
civil war should begin, there would be an end of all 
our liberties and blessings, political, social, and reli- 
gious. We have written our views freely, fearlessly, 
and independently. If any have taken exceptions, we 
can't help it. We think, however, that the time will 
come when our course will be commended by all sober- 
thinking, patriotic citizens. 

" So soon as the political storm which is now agi- 
tating and convulsing our country shall have passed 
away, we intend to pursue a different course from that 
which has occupied our attention for the last year. 
We begin to hope that the storm will pass over with- 
out civil war,— that the Federal Government will con- 
tinue, — that confidence will be restored, — that peace 
and tranquillity will once more dwell in our midst, — 
that business will become active, and that all things 
will go on prosperously. 

" If Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, &c. &c. ; remain firm and steadfast, and a 
compromise of our Federal relations shall be adopted 
which will prove satisfactory to these States, we con- 
fidently believe that some if not all of the seceded States 
will ultimately return to the Union. If they should 
not, however, let them have their own Confederacy, 
and enjoy in peace and tranquillity all the blessings 
and privileges of which they are capable. 

" If any of the New England States, or any of the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 147 

ultra-abolition States, wish to slab off, let them go and 
do the best for themselves that they can. It will not 
be many years, in our humble opinion, until all the 
seceded States will be anxious to return to the old 
Union of their fathers. So that, after all, the present 
national excitement may result in infinite good to the 
whole country. If, however, the seceded States, and 
those, if any, which may hereafter secede, shall never 
return to the Union, all sections can go on and govern 
their own affairs without detriment to each other, 
and the whole country may continue in peace and 
prosperity. 

" If the ' Peace Conference' now in session in Wash- 
ington City shall adjust a plan satisfactory to the border 
States, this is all we can expect or hope for at the 
present critical crisis. And we again repeat, and would, 
impress it upon the minds of our readers, that if the 
States which have already seceded will not come back 
into the Union, this is no reason why the border States 
shall go out of the Union. There is a principle or law 
in natural philosophy that supposes the smaller bodies 
to be attracted by the larger. But in the present case 
the smaller bodies, or seceded States, seek to force the 
larger bodies, or non-seceding States, and bring them 
under their influence. 

"We would again say to our readers, be as hopeful as 
to the future, under all the trying circumstances, as 
possible ; and, as cold winter is passing away, and 
spring-time, with all its glories, is approaching, be 
cheerful, and go to work in good earnest, and make 
large preparations for abundant crops. The Lord 
reigneth : let the earth rejoice, and the children of men 
be glad! Surely our country cannot be broken up, laid 



148 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

waste, and ruined as easily and as quickly as some 
people suppose." 

" Who could have supposed, twelve months ago, that 
the question of Union or no Union would have been 
brought out squarely before the people, claiming their 
votes so soon ? As strange things as this will happen 
in less than ten years. Remember what we say." 

" If the hearts of many of the odious politicians of 
the day were half as soft as their heads, then would 
our country be free from danger." 

" How are ministers of the gospel now to obey the 
great commission of their divine Lawgiver, ' Go ye into 
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature' ? 
Northern Abolition fanatics can't go South and preach 
with impunity, nor can Southern fire-eaters go North 
and preach with any good effect. A pretty state of 
things, truly !" 

From the following brief article the reader can form 
some idea of the persecution to which Union men had 
to submit in the town of Fredericksburg as early as 
the 14th of February, 1861, the date of its publi- 
cation : — 

"Why is it that secessionists talk of compromise 
with derision ? Why is it that they wish to precipitate 
Virginia out of the Union ? Why is it that they call 
conservative or Union men l Submissionists,' l Black 
Republicans,' 'Abolitionists,' 'Traitors and enemies to 
the South, 1 &c. &c. ? Are secessionists more intel- 
lectual than Union men ? In what have they displayed 
it ? Are they more patriotic ? What proofs have they 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 149 

given of the fact ? Are they more brave ? Why then 
did they vacate their seats in the Senate and Congress 
halls of the United States, thus virtually surrendering 
all their rights into the hands of their enemies ? Why, 
in the hour of their country's peril, did they retreat 
into the Gulf States, having as a safeguard the Atlan- 
tic Ocean on the one side, and the border States be- 
tween them and danger on the other side ? There is 
no submissio?i in all this, is there ? Very brave, is it ? 
In what have Union men compromised their honor or 
dignity ? It is not honorable, not dignified, for a man 
to stand his ground and fight for his rights on his own 
soil, and sacredly maintain the trust the people have 
confided in him ! But it is very honorable, quite dig- 
nified, for a man to throw down his legal weapons of 
defence and run away, and belt on the sword, and swear 
if the enemy comes to him he'll thrash him out ! This 
is very brave, is it ? 

" What rights have secessionists to protect that 
Union men have not ? Have Union men no civil, re- 
ligious, and domestic rights to protect ? We think it 
bad policy for secessionists who would break up the 
peace and harmony of the Government, and plunge the 
whole country into civil war, to be accusing their fellow- 
citizens, who are trying to pour oil upon the troubled 
waters and are making all possible efforts to bring 
about peace and harmony, of being ' Submissionists,' 
'Black Republicans,' 'Abolitionists,' and ' Traitors' and 
'Enemies to the /South.'" 

The above are specimens, of some of the milder op- 
probrious epithets which secessionists applied to Union 
men by way of convicting them of true patriotism, and 



150 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

converting them to treason and all the damnable hor- 
rors and curses resulting from it. The efforts used to 
browbeat, cow, and force men into the ranks of seces- 
sion beggar all description. And while Senators Hunter 
and Mason and others at Washington City were doing 
any thing else than "pouring oil on the troubled waters," 
secesh understrappers, politicians, and fifteen-shilling 
lawyers were haranguing the people through the country 
and stirring up all the baser and vindictive passions of 
the ignorant and credulous classes of the people. They 
sneered at the idea of any compromise. None but " Trai- 
tors to the South," "Submissionists," "Black Eepubli- 
cans," " Abolitionists," "OldLincolnites," "Union-shriek- 
ers," and " Cowards" wanted to compromise with blue- 
necked, white-livered Yankees ! To listen to the stentorian 
and verbose orations of many of these hopeful politicians 
and statesmen, one would be induced to suppose that 
their lungs were made of brass, and that they had 
ransacked the vocabularies of earth and hell to gather 
epithets sufficiently strong and damnable to apply to 
Union men, to the old Union, to the old Federal Govern- 
ment, to old Abe Lincoln, to the old Flag of the Union, 
to black-hearted submissionists, to Union-shriekers, to 
Abolitionists, to traitors to Virginia and the South, 
to Southern Yankees, <§c. $c. Our heart, even now, 
saddens at the painful recollection, and we turn away 
from the subject in disgust. Poor fellows ! If they 
have not already done so, they will see, and feel too, 
the full effects of their folly before this war shall have 
closed. May God in mercy save them ! 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 151 



CHAPTER XX. 

HOPE FOE, THE UNION WANES — JEFF DAVIS'S SPEECH IN 
MONTGOMERY — GENERAL REMARKS, ETC. ETC. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of Feb- 
ruary 21, 1861, under the head of "Random Thoughts," 
we wrote and published the following : — 

" 'Tis folly to try to hope longer for an amicable 
adjustment of our Federal or national difficulties. The 
star of hope has gone down beneath the hill of despair. 
To talk longer of compromise is sublime nonsense, — 
superlatively ludicrous. No compromise would at the 
present time bring back the seceded States. Mr. 
Davis, in his Inaugural Address, says, — 

" 'I enter upon the duties of the office for which I 
have been chosen with the hope that the beginning of 
our career as a confederacy may not be obstructed by 
hostile opposition to the enjoyment of the separate and 
independent existence which we have asserted, and 
which, with the blessing of Providence, we intend to 
maintain. We have entered upon our career of inde- 
pendence, and it must be inflexibly pursued. If a just 
perception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably 
to pursue our separate political career, my most earnest 
desire will have been fulfilled. But, if this be denied 
us, and the integrity and jurisdiction of our territory 
be assailed, it will but remain for us, with a firm re- 



152 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

solve, to appeal to arms, and invoke the blessings of 
Providence upon a just cause.' 

" In his address at the depot, on arriving in Mont- 
gomery, Mr. Davis said, — 

" ( We are now determined to maintain our position, 
and make all who oppose us smell Southern powder 
and feel Southern steel, if coercion be persisted in. 
We will maintain our rights and our government at 
all hazards. We ask nothing, want nothing, and will 
have no complication. If other States join our con- 
federation, they can freely come on our terms. Our 
separation from the old Union is complete. No com- 
promise, no thought of reconstruction, will now be en- 
tertained.' 

"If President Davis be a correct exponent of the 
views of the people of the six seceded States, then the 
Rubicon is forever passed. Why, then, talk about 
compromise any longer? The border States must be 
forced to join the Southern Confederacy on just such 
terms as she may be pleased to receive them. ' They 
can freely come on our terms.' Hence they have no 
voice in the matter at all. Are freemen to be menaced 
and talked to in this way ? So the border States at 
last have to yield to the dictates of the seceded 
States ! 

"A provisional Government! Remember that the 
laws of this provisional Government are only to con- 
tinue for the term of one year, until permanent laws 
are enacted and a permanent constitution adopted. 
Will the laws of this anticipated firm confederacy be 
favorable to the interests of Virginia and the other 
border States ? Who can tell ? Who can believe 
that they will ? What guarantees have Virginia and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 153 

the border States that this new confederacy will not 
reopen the African slave-trade ? None whatever ! If 
the African slave-trade is not reopened, then the se- 
ceded States will be forced to purchase slaves from 
Virginia. One thing is certain : they are going to get 
their negroes just where they can purchase them 
cheapest. This is a fixed fact. "We have not a doubt 
that thousands and tens of thousands of African ne- 
groes will be smuggled into the cotton States and sold 
into bondage, in defiance of all laws to the contrary. 
We are afraid of the wooden horse! There are deep 
groans within ! 

" It now behooves Virginia to demand such guaran- 
tees as will secure her own property and safety, without 
having any reference to the seceded States. And if 
Virginia is satisfied that her property will be protected, 
she ought to be contented and remain in the Union, 
and then business will become active, confidence will 
be restored, and prosperity will follow." 

"ANOMALY. 

"The history of the world cannot furnish another 
instance of such an anomaly as is now presented to the 
mind of the student in these United States, or, rather, 
in these disrupted States. Within ninety days the 
greatest republic the world has ever known has been 
broken up; two separate and distinct confederacies 
exist ; two antagonistic Congresses are in session ; two 
Presidents are ruling; universal preparations for 
war are being made by both confederacies ; confidence 
is everywhere destroyed; all kinds of business are 
stagnated; all descriptions of property are depre- 
ciating in value to insignificance ; people are everywhere 



154 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

crushed beneath the heavy liabilities resting upon 
them ; bankruptcy is threatening the whole country ; 
millions of dollars are being levied to purchase muni- 
tions of war; Legislatures, conferences, and conven- 
tions are being constantly held ; money must be raised 
to pay all these expenses; the people must be taxed to 
starvation to pay all this wicked expenditure of money ; 
and, think, not as yet has a single battle been fought, 
a single gun fired, — except at the ' Star of the West,' — 
nor a single life lost. 

"Positively, the scenes now being acted out beggar 
all belief. And yet the people tamely submit ! Yes, 
submit to be gulled, duped, and led about by ambitious, 
designing politicians, just as if they were cattle, to be 
muzzled, yoked, and driven wherever the owners wish. 
Do freemen submit ? Will freemen submit to the 
galling yoke of despotism being placed upon their necks 
by petty tyrants, who are only scrambling for public 
spoils, position, and power? Will they suffer their 
pockets to be drained of the last farthing, starve their 
suffering wives and destitute families, to support, up- 
hold, and continue in office, power, and position, a set 
of worthless public mendicants? Are freemen afraid 
to speak out their sentiments? Are they afraid to 
act the part of free-born citizens? Are they afraid to 
say that they have souls and are determined to save 
them ? It would seem so ! 

" Fellow-citizens, think ! Out of your hard earnings 
the members composing the present extra session of the 
Virginia Legislature have to be paid ! What are they 
doing there for the good of the country ? What have 
they done? They have called a convention. Yes, 
and your hard earnings must foot every bill of every 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 155 

member of that convention ! They have sent commis- 
sioners to confer with the seceded States. For what ? 
Did they not know before the commissioners were sent 
that the seceded States would accept of no compromise ? 
Why, then, send them ? If they have business to do as 
a legislative body, why do they not accomplish it 
at once, and save the country from the expense of 
paying them to remain in Richmond, drinking, feast- 
ing, and frolicking at the expense of the Common- 
wealth? Eome burns, and Nero sits on his tower, 
singing on his lyre the destruction of Troy ! 

" We are tired and disgusted with hearing about plans 
and compromises, seeing that secessionists are deter- 
mined to accept of no compromise whatever. And we 
now urge the people, independently of politicians, to 
adopt some compromise which shall be satisfactory to 
the people, and let the whole North and South vote 
upon it; and, if the people are safe and satisfied, let 
politicians 'go by the board.' 

"The children of Israel, for a number of years, were 
governed by a theocracy ; but they were not satisfied. 
God could not govern them to their liking. They 
wanted a king, and God permitted them to have a king; 
and the result is well known to all Bible readers. 
The American people were once free and happy ; but we 
fear they will never rest until they are reduced to kingly 
tyranny and despotic oppression. 

" Objections are made to Mr. Lincoln as the chief ma- 
gistrate of these United States, because he is a sectional 
President! Who elected President Davis? Was he 
elected by the popular vote of the six seceded States ? 
Was the popular vote of these States taken at all ? 
Did any State or States in the Union, except the 



156 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

seceded States, have any voice in his election ? Look 
at it, will you ? And now we are urged and must be 
forced to fly for refuge to this newly self-created Con- 
federacy of six States, without having any voice or 
representation either in Congress or as to the Presi- 
dency ! Thank God ! all freemen are not sold yet, and 
there still live men who know their rights and are not 
afraid to defend them. Nor do we believe that the elo- 
quence of Mr. Preston nor that of all the commissioners 
from the seceded States will be able to move Virginia 
from her dignified, patriotic position. Should the 
hearts of the members of the convention, however, 
become fired up, and they, in an unguarded moment, 
pass an ordinance of secession, we ardently trust 
that the people of Virginia have the good sense still 
remaining to veto the act, until we know that sufficient 
guarantees will not be given to secure the safety and 
protection of the border States. 

" Two confederacies ! Two Presidents and Vice-Presi- 
dents ! Two separate and independent Governments in 
the ' United States of America' ! Great God ! who 
can realize the fact ! Truly we have fallen on evil 
times. How can a collision be avoided? "Well, let 
us wait and see. The knowing ones may call us a 
fool and traitor now, and say that we have no sense; 
but, if the future does not reveal the folly of the fools, 
then we shall be perfectly willing to be set down as a 
fool by the learned and knowing ones of the day. May 
the Lord pity the folly of fools, and save our country 
from ruin [" 

"Blessings of Providence." — Jeff Davis, in the very 
beginning of his career, tried to impress upon the 



• THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 157 

minds of the people that God Almighty was particeps 
criminis in his damnable plot of treason against the 
Government of the United States of America. He 
preached up to the people a God of battles, blood, and 
thunder, powder, and steel. " We are now determined," 
he says, "to maintain our position, and make all who 
.oppose us smell Southern powder and feel /Southern 
steel, if coercion is persisted in." To what extent Ju- 
piter and Neptune, or the God of battles, of Southern 
powder and Southern steel, have aided the cause of this 
usurper of authority, is well known to the reader and 
to the American people. But, if Mr. Davis thus ar- 
dently repudiated coercion when applied to himself and 
his wicked rebellion, why did he himself afterwards 
persist in trying to coerce individuals, communities, 
and States into his Confederacy ? But more of this in 
a future chapter; and a dark chapter it is, — one which 
will astonish the reader. 

" Virginia Legislature." — The members of this extra 
session of the Virginia Legislature were all members 
who had been elected to the Assembly of Virginia be- 
fore the question of secession was ever sprung upon the 
people. This was a Breckinridge-Democratic Legisla- 
ture, composed of men who were determined, if possi- 
ble, to dissolve the Union, or to aid in its dissolution to 
the utmost extent of their influence. They had no 
State constitutional authority to order a convention 
without first taking the vote of the people of the State 
as to whether there should be a convention or not. 
They knew, or believed, that if the question of a con- 
vention or no convention for the purpose of taking into 
consideration the expediency or inexpediency of dis- 
solving the Union were squarely and fairly brought 

14 



158 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

before the people, there would be no convention. But 
with that Legislature the secession of Virginia was a 
foregone conclusion; and they usurped the authority 
of calling a convention, and then remained in session 
during the session of the convention to act as an out- 
side pressure upon that convention to force Virginia 
out of the Union. This, facts abundantly prove, and 
we shall say more on the subject hereafter. 

" Why, then, send them V 1 — -Why were commissioners 
being sent to and from Virginia, to and from the 
Southern Confederacy, for the purpose of compromising 
difficulties, when Mr. Davis openly said, "We ask no- 
thing, want nothing, and will have no complication. Our 
separation from the old Union is complete. No com- 
promise, no thought of reconstruction, will now be 
entertained" ? Strange as it may now appear to the 
intelligent reader, the leaders of disunion, the orators 
of the secession party, still urged upon the people 
that unless some compromise was devised and adopted, 
which would bring back the seceded States into the 
Union, Virginia must secede. It was all a deep, dam- 
nable plot of treason, — a trap set to catch Virginia and 
force her out of the Union, — a political swindle, a trick 
and cheat, imposed upon her, for which she will hold 
the guilty culprits responsible after this war shall have 
ended,— if they are then living ; and, if not, her wrath 
and fiery indignation will be hurled upon their guilty 
souls throughout the undying ages of eternity. The 
souls of the thousands slain on Virginia's soil will rise 
up in the day of judgment, and condemn the guilty 
leaders in this wicked rebellion, because by it they 
were unexpectedly forced into battle, and consequently 
hurried unprepared into eternity and before the bar of 



THE SOUTH SACEIFICED. 159 

the Eighteous Judge of all the earth. Woe ! woe ! 
woe ! be unto the leaders of this rebellion, both in time 
and in eternity ! And when this war shall have closed, 
there will be a fearful reckoning with the people. 

A special despatch to the " Petersburg Express," 
dated Eichmond, February 27, 10J p.m., announced the 
following intelligence : — 

"A member of the Virginia Legislature has just re- 
ceived the following despatch from Washington : — 

"'The Peace Congress have agreed upon a plan of 
adjustment, which, it is hoped, will prove satisfactory 
to all parties. The object was consummated to-day. 

" 'The Peace Convention have adjourned and reported 
to Congress. 

" 'We fire a salute of one hundred guns in the morn- 
ing, in honor of the great event, by order of the Govern- 
ment.' 

"It is said that Ex-Governor Wise remarked, when 
he heard the above read, that one hundred were quite 
enough. 

" The secessionists here do not at all relish the news 
from Washington. Several prominent members of the 
State Convention left here to-night for Washington." 

Why did not the secessionists at Eichmond " at all 
relish the news from Washington"? And why did 
"several prominent members of the State Convention" 
leave Eichmond "post-haste" for Washington as soon as 
they learned the result of the Peace Conference? Does 
not the reader fully comprehend the whole design? 
Secessionists relished nothing that had the slightest 
and most remote semblance to "a plan of adjustment" 
which might "prove satisfactory to all parties." 



160 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

A Washington correspondent of the "Bichmond Dis- 
patch," in a letter to that paper after the inauguration 
of Mr. Lincoln, explains the whole matter. The cor- 
respondent says, — 

" Lincoln threatens war because he knows his hands 
are tied. War is not the thing we ought to fear. Peace 
is our destruction; war our salvation." 

The " Alexandria Gazette," in commenting on the 
above, said, — 

" Is not this significant? Is it not 'rule or ruin' ? 
Will not the people of Virginia mark this? Will they 
yield themselves to those who hold and express such 
sentiments, — sentiments destructive to their best and 
dearest interests and utterly subversive of their highest 
hopes? We are to desire war, civil war, bloodshed, 
every thing calculated to ruin us, so that secession 
may be carried out here and protected elsewhere! 
Never !" 

While secessionists at the South were working the 
wires of intrigue to consummate their " infernal plot" 
of treason against the Government, evolving every 
approachable and available element by which to over- 
turn the Republic and dissolve the Union, the con- 
servative element of the North was doing every thing 
possible to save the Union and keep the Eepublic from 
wreck and ruin. 

The Working-Men's National Convention, which as- 
sembled in Philadelphia in March, 1861, passed the 
following resolutions : — 

"Resolved, That we, the working-men of the United 
States, without distinction of party, believe that, as a 
consequence of the sectional controversy now agitating 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 161 

our country, we are now approaching the verge of 
national, social, and financial ruin; that our material 
prosperity, our hopes of happiness, and future security 
depend upon the preservation of the Union. 

" 2. That in the mere abstract questions which have 
been used to distract and divide the honest masses the 
working-men have no real interest. As we can hardly 
hope for a safe solution of pending difficulties through 
the politicians of the country, we therefore exhort our 
brethren to lay aside all their feelings, surrender for- 
ever the ties that have bound them to favorite leaders, 
and unite in one solid column for a single purpose, the 
preservation of the Federal Union. 

"3. That the Territorial question ought to be settled 
on a constitutional basis; [and the resolutions then go 
on to endorse the Crittenden compromise.] 

"4. That the Union must and shall be preserved, and 
the co-operation of our brethren is invoked to 'hurl 
with speedy hands the accursed traitors who have 
with impunity desecrated the inmost sanctuary' of 
freedom. 

" 5. [This resolution denounces all attempts made by 
partisans or public papers to promote disunion, and 
that the ship of state has been too long confided to men 
who are unworthy of the trust, and who have per- 
mitted her to run upon the quicksands of sectional strife ; 
we will, therefore, vote against aspiring demagogues, 
and vote for firm and patriotic men.] 

"6. [This resolution denies the right of any State 
to secede, but deprecates the use of coercive power 
by the General Government, as the Government rests 
upon the will of the people, the source of all political 
power.] 

14* 



162 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"7. [This resolution deprecates the election of any 
man to any public trust who has by any means en- 
deavored to prevent a just settlement of the present 
difficulties.] 

"8. [The Legislatures of the different States are 
requested to repeal all personal liberty bills that may 
violate any constitutional principles of the people of the 
United States.] 

" 9. [The working-men of the thirty -four States are 
recommended to form associations pledging themselves 
to lay upon the altar of their country all party predi- 
lections, and to maintain the Union of all these States, 
'one and inseparable, now and forever.']" 

If the secessionists of Virginia and the other border 
States had wished or desired a compromise which might 
have proved satisfactory to all parties, why did they 
not co-operate with the Union men of the border States 
and with the conservative men at the North ? No : 
they asked for no compromise ; they wanted no com- 
promise ; and they determined to accept of no compro- 
mise ; and, therefore, the sin of all the evils which have 
befallen Virginia and the whole South rests upon the 
guilty souls of these leading arch-traitors, who, by lying, 
intrigue, and rascality generally, forced Virginia out of 
the Union. 

While secessionists in Virginia were effecting the 
secession of the State, the Southern Confederacy was 
enlisting troops to be hurried into Virginia as soon as 
the ordinance of secession was passed by the conven- 
tion; so that, on the day of election, when the action 
of the convention was to be voted on by the people of 
Virginia, they would have to vote for secession at the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 163 

point of the bayonet. This is no false coloring to the 
subject, as subsequent events proved, and as we shall 
be able to show before we are done with this accursed 
plot of treason against our blessed country. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



SECESH CAUCUS CLIQUES — GREAT SECESH MEETING AND 

UNION MEETING IN FREDERICKSBURG IMPOSITION OF 

SECESH ORATORS SECESH REMARKS, ETC. ETC. 

On the first Monday in March, 1861, at Spottsyl- 
vania Court-House, that being county-court day, a 
clique of secessionists met then and there, and passed a 
set of resolutions, among which was one instructing 
the representative from the county of Spottsylvania 
and the town of Fredericksburg to the Virginia Con- 
vention, which was then being held in the city of Rich- 
mond, to urge the immediate passage of an ordinance 
of secession, the representative from this county having 
been elected a member of the convention as a Union 
man by an overwhelming majority. These resolutions 
were hurried off to Richmond to influence the repre- 
sentative in his future course of action, and published 
in the public newspapers as being the wish of the 
voters of the county. Thus was the representative 
imposed upon, as were also the voters and people of 
the county. Be it remembered that fifteen-shilling 
lawyers and sub -editors, or someivorthless office-hunters t 



164 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

were generally at the head of all these treasonable 
cliques. 

On the following Friday night this same party called 
a town-meeting for the purpose of imposing and forcing 
the same set of resolutions upon the voters and citizens 
of Fredericksburg. This meeting was largely attended 
and ably represented by those who had respectively 
advocated the interests of Bell, Breckinridge, and 
Douglas during the Presidential campaign of 1860. 
Eight consecutive disunion speeches were delivered by 
eight lawyers. The speakers who had advocated the 
cause of Bell and Douglas during the Presidential 
canvass declared themselves wholly converted, head 
and heels, soul and body, to the inexpressible beauties, 
undying excellencies, and transcendently sublime glories 
of secession, and most unmercifully and vindictively 
denounced all as Abolitionists, traitors, submissionists, 
and Lincolnites, who would any longer stand up for the 
old Union, or the flag of the old United States. On 
this occasion the stentorian style was admirably imi- 
tated by all the speakers. They seemed to try to 
what an astonishing height they could raise their voices, 
and to what an extent they could be heard ; they were 
verbose, vehement, denunciatory, dogmatic, impudent, 
insolent, disgusting, and highly insulting ; but as for 
common sense, good logic, sound argument, and mathe- 
matical demonstration, there was none of it, — except 
that they demonstrated their own folly and final ruin 
by their own treasonable course of conduct. That this 
would prove to be the result of their action was clearly 
demonstrated to our own mind at least. 

If Virginia did not secede immediately, one was going 
away out west of the Mississippi Eiver, the Father of 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 165 

Waters, and leave his "beautiful farm which you" 
(the audience) "see every day; and if Virginia did not 
secede, and if he, the speaker, did not leave Virginia, 
his "wife is going any way, as she has determined not 
to live under old Abe's Administration." Another was 
going to root up roots out of the ground and make his 
wife and children do the same for a living, before he 
and they should become the subjects of old Lincoln's 
tyranny and despotic rule. Another was going to face 
the cannon — yes, walk right square up to the cannon's 
mouth and wade in blood up to his neck — before he 
would ever submit to the despotism of a Black Repub- 
lican Abolition Administration. It was a great time 
with secessionists. The rapping and clapping and 
loud huzzas were frequent, long, and deafening. Oh, 
they were a merry, jubilant set of fellows that night ! 
If it had been an old-fashioned Methodist camp-meet- 
ing, and a thousand sinners had become converted to 
God, the enthusiasm and extravagance could not have 
been surpassed. 

Strange as it may appear to the reader, not one of 
the pugnacious orators who were going to turn the 
world upside down and play the devil generally on that 
ever-memorable night has ever yet faced the mouth of 
a roaring cannon, or waded in blood up to his neck, 
or even been in a battle, so far as we know. One of 
the most popular and prominent of all who spoke on 
that occasion subsequently offered for the Congress of 
the Southern Confederacy, but, getting shamefully de- 
feated, he afterwards became attached to the staff of 
one of the Confederate generals, with the title of major 
annexed. This man was a prominent Breckinridge 
Democrat, a great admirer of Jeff Davis, a thorough 



166 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

secessionist, a despiser of the old Union, and a scorner 
of the "Stars and Stripes." He was rich, and with his 
party, before the war began, influential; but since the 
war commenced his negroes have left, his " beautiful" 
residence and splendid farm have become the head- 
quarters of the generals of the Federal army, and his 
farm a common camping-field. He is now compara- 
tively poor, and, except with original secessionists, his 
influence is gone, and gone forever. 

Another one of the eloquent orators on that occasion 
was a Breckinridge Democrat; but during the reign of 
Know-Nothingism he was a great Know-Nothingist, 
and, if we are not mistaken, he is emphatically a Know- 
Nothingist yet, having learned nothing since, — a nine- 
shilling lawyer, a worshipper of Jeff Davis, a despiser 
of the old Union, a scorner of the " detestable flag of the 
Federal Government," but a devoted friend, a sincere 
lover, of the one thing which most traitors admire, 
whiskey. This man was for a short time a lieutenant 
in a company when the rebellion first broke out, but, 
when the "tug of war" actually came, fearing, as was 
supposed, that he might get into a fight and by some 
unforeseen accident might "get hurt," resigned his office; 
and when the conscript law took effect, and scouting- 
parties were hunting out and picking up fighting-men 
in, around, and about Fredericksburg, we understand 
that this poor fellow, this would-be hero in time of 
peace, when there was no danger of "getting hurt," 
was slipping and sliding, dodging, running, and hiding, 
from place to place, to keep from being caught and 
forced into the conscript army to fight against " sub- 
missionists and the disciples of old Abe Lincoln" ! 
He had declined all idea of fighting " old Abe Lin- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 167 

coin" and "the blue-necked, white-livered Yankees. 11 
He found it was much easier to make treasonable 
secesh speeches, and be huzzaed by brainless knaves 
and foolish boys, than to fight the " vandals of the 
North," and consequently, like " Jerry Sneak, he 
turned edge-ways and became invisible," or, like the 
return on a constable's warrant, non est inventus. 

But to return to the meeting. All the orators of the 
night and of the occasion having delivered themselves 
of the eloquence which was pent up within them, 
and the thunders of the loud huzzas having died away, 
the resolutions were read and the vote taken, and pro- 
nounced by the chair to be unanimous, with but one 
solitary exception. One poor, thoughtless fellow in the 
vast assembly said no to the resolutions, — when a simul- 
taneous shout like deafening thunder arose, " Put him 
out! put him out! put him out !" whereupon one of the 
tender-hearted lawyers, (and they all have tender hearts, 
reader,) who had just delivered himself of a treasonable 
speech, and seeing unconditional glory, honor, and im- 
mortality ahead, said, "No, no, no: don't put him out; 
he is evidently intoxicated." The inference, therefore, 
to be fairly drawn was that none but a drunken man 
would dare to vote against the resolutions ; while the 
actual fact in the case was, that this poor fellow's car- 
cass only escaped being kicked out of the public court- 
house into the streets on the plea of his being drunk. 

The meeting having adjourned, we left the court- 
house, seriously cogitating upon the lamentable scenes, 
which had just been acted out, and the awfully alarming 
state of public affairs generally, and, like the old pro- 
phet of whom we read in the Bible, from the depth of 
our soul we exclaimed, "Lord, they have killed thy 



168 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

prophets, digged down thine altars, and I am left alone, 
and they seek my life." Like the old prophet, however, 
we were mistaken ; for in that very assembly there were 
many who had never bowed the knee to the image of 
Baal, and who in their hearts despised the demon 
secession, as subsequent events proved. 

Eesolutions which were passed by these secesh 
caucus-meetings, which were everywhere being held 
through the country, were hurried off to Eichmond to 
the representatives in the State Convention, as we 
have already said, to force and influence them to vote 
for the immediate secession of Virginia; otherwise, on 
their return home they would be held accountable to 
their constituents for not having obeyed instructions. 
These resolutions were also published in the public 
newspapers, and largely commented on by editors, to 
influence and force the people into secession, and to 
prepare their minds and hearts for action at the 
election that was to take place relative to ratifying or 
rejecting the final action of the Virginia Convention. 

Many of the meetings which were held and at which 
were passed resolutions instructing representatives in 
the convention to vote for immediate secession were com- 
posed of but few individuals, and they, for the most part, 
original secessionists of the baser sort, while the resolu- 
tions professed to be a fair representation of the senti- 
ments of whole cities, counties, and communities. The 
intelligent reader cannot fail to see that in this way, if 
the members of the convention, in consequence of their 
superior advantages, were not imposed on, the people 
through the State were. 

To counteract the false impressions produced by 
these resolutions so far as the town and citizens of 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 169 

Fredericksburg were concerned, the Union men of 
Fredericksburg determined to hold a Union meeting in 
the court-house on the following Monday night after 
the secesh had held theirs. On Sunday morning we 
were waited on by Union gentlemen to know if we 
would deliver an address on the following night, pro- 
vided they could "get up" a meeting. For reasons 
satisfactory to ourself, we told them we would. We 
had written for our country, were willing to speak for 
our country, and, if necessary, would die for our country. 
The notice being short, and for a Union meeting, and 
there being no chance to announce it in any of the town 
papers, as there was no daily paper in town, and no 
paper published on Monday, we calculated on quite a 
small attendance. 

No sooner, however, had it become known that there 
was to be a Union meeting than the secessionists went 
to work to devise ways and means by which either to 
turn the Union meeting into a secesh meeting, or, if 
they failed in that, to create a "row," and break up 
the meeting entirely. Facts subsequently developed 
proved this to have been the determination of the op- 
position party. At the head of this plot there were 
men who should have blushed to engage in such mean- 
ness. But to what depths of crime and meanness will 
not treason stoop ? 

On entering the court-house on Monday night, we 
found it perfectly filled. Ignorant of the plot of the 
secessionists either to turn the meeting into a secesh 
meeting or attempt to annihilate it, we were surprised 
to witness so large an attendance; for never had we 
seen the court-house more thoroughly crowded than 
on that ever-memorable night, the 11th of March, 1861. 

15 



170 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Immediately after the meeting was organized, and 
the committee appointed to prepare resolutions for the 
meeting had retired, the chair, in the name of the 
meeting, expressed a desire to hear an address. In- 
stantly the secessionists called out for a certain lawyer, 
who had been a Douglas elector during the Presiden- 
tial canvass, and one of the men who had spoken 
on the previous Friday night. At the same time the 
Union men were calling on us to take the stand. Being 
seated in the crowd, before we had time to rise and get 
fairly on the way to the speaker's stand, the secesh 
lawyer was on the stand and had commenced his speech. 
We returned to our seat until he had finished He 
"put it on thick and heavy" to the Union- shriekers, sub- 
missionists, Abolitionists , <Jc. 6fc. We looked at him, 
and wondered all the time, thinking to ourself, " How 
changed! how fallen!" We had listened to him on the 
previous Friday night; we had heard him when advo- 
cating the cause of Douglas, the Union, the Constitu- 
tion, and enforcement of the laws. Then he was manly, 
dignified, eloquent, logical, and patriotic. As a friend, 
we loved him; as a citizen, we respected him; as a 
patriot, we admired him. Now, as a traitor to his 
country, we pitied him; for his treason, we scorned 
him. Scarcely had he finished his last treasonable 
sentence when a shout was raised for another secesh 
speaker to take the stand. They called on this occa- 
sion for their ablest and most popular speakers. Again 
the Union men called on us to take the stand. Feeling 
under obligation to our friends, but infinitely more to 
our country, we walked upon the stand, where, to our 
surprise, we found the last secesh orator who had 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 171 

been called out was standing and trying to gain the 
hearing of the audience. 

Here followed a scene that beggars all description. 
For upwards of fifteen minutes the tumult was like the 
continuous roaring of many waters, — each party call- 
ing on their speaker to go on, go on, go on, and each 
swearing that the speaker of the other party should not 
speak. It was a rich scene for civilized, patriotic, 
Christian men! But it was a struggle between pa- 
triotism and treason, a struggle for our country and 
all the blessings of freedom. Finally, however, the 
house was brought to order, and we addressed the 
meeting for about an hour and a half, amidst the 
huzzas and hisses of that vast assembly. During the 
time we were speaking, some cowardly, unprincipled 
scoundrel, a sinner against God, and a traitor to his 
country, threw an egg at us from the extreme part of 
the house; but, losing its force before it reached us, it 
struck a young man who was seated directly in front 
of us, on the back of the head. Why did this outlaw 
bring eggs with him to a public meeting, unless he had 
anticipated a mob on the occasion? Had he no pre- 
conceived design in doing this ? Had he no accom- 
plices committed to aid in creating a mob and breaking 
up the meeting ? Why was he not instantly rebuked, 
arrested, and committed to jail for so outrageous an 
act? Because the leaders of the secession party in 
that house, on that occasion, sanctioned the infernal act, 
and would have joined in a general mob, but that they 
found the Union party much stronger than they had 
expected. Why were the secesh orators, and the very 
men, too, who had delivered speeches on the previous 
Friday night to the same people and in the same house, 



172 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

on the same stand, — why, we say, was an attempt made 
by their party to force them upon the meeting? And 
why did these speakers so promptly take the stand 
and try to impose themselves on the meeting? Ay, 
reader, the damnable principles of the tyranny, anar- 
chy, and mob-despotism of secession were as fully deve- 
loped on that occasion on a small scale, as they are 
in the army of Jeff Davis on a large scale. We, 
however, told them many things, on that occasion, 
which will be remembered by some until they die. 

At the close of our address, a simultaneous shout 
was raised for a certain secesh orator to take the stand 
and make a speech. Instantly he was on the stand, 
overcoat off, and about to begin, when the Union 
men objected to his speaking, inasmuch as it was a 
Union meeting, and already one of the secesh orators 
had made a long disunion speech, and, to the Union 
men, a very insulting and abusive one. The secession- 
ists swore he should speak, and many of the Union 
men swore he should not speak; and, amidst hisses, 
huzzas, clapping of hands, stamping of feet, beating 
of seats and stoves with walking-canes, &c. &c, the 
Union men proceeded to extinguish the lights, as they 
had a right to do, having paid for them, when an in- 
stant, general " skedaddling" took place, for fear " some- 
body" might " get hurt." 

Thus, reader, ended the last Union meeting we ever 
attended in the town of Fredericksburg, Va. We give 
this case and the facts connected with it, as a specimen of 
the trickery, villany, and deep, damnable rascality 
resorted to by secessionists to force Virginia out of the 
Union. We had no vindictive feelings towards our fel- 
low-citizens, — none but pity for them, and deep, pungent 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 173 

sorrow for the approaching downfall of our bleeding 
country. And, remember, all this happened more than 
one month before the capture of Fort Sumter. 

It may not be amiss to state, in closing this article, 
that two of the prominent speakers on the Friday night 
of the great secesh meeting of which we have spoken 
were during the reign of Know-No thingism the 
strongest advocates of that cause to be found in all the 
country. One, of whom we have made mention above, 
was a sort of editor in Western Virginia at that 
time; and the other, decidedly the ablest member 
of the Fredericksburg bar, ably advocated the cause 
of Know-Nothingism. On one occasion, in the court- 
house in Fredericksburg, and on the same stand where 
he delivered his speech of treason against the Fede- 
ral Government, we listened to him speak for four 
hours at a single stretch, when all the powers and 
eloquence of his soul and tongue were employed in 
vindicating the "Union, the Constitution, and enforce- 
ment of the laws." What a leap from the sublime to 
the ridiculous, from the highest and noblest aspira- 
tions of patriotism to the deepest and darkest depths 
of treason! How the sworn advocates of the "Consti- 
tution, the Union, and enforcement of the laws" could 
thus easily wheel into the ranks of traitors and espouse 
the cause of treason, was, and is still, to us a mystery, 
an inexplicable enigma, a problem to be solved. 

The "Virginia (Fredericksburg) Herald," in no- 
ticing the meeting of the secessionists on the Friday 
night of which we have spoken, says, — 

"There has been a reaction, just as we have always 
said there would be ; and it has come like a ground- 
swell in old Fredericksburg." 

15* 



174 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

To this, In the number of the " Christian Banner" 
of March 14, 1861, we remarked, in the following brief 
paragraph, — 

"How long has the ' Herald' l always said there 
would be a reaction,' and an upheaving, 'like a ground- 
swell,' throwing off the scurf and scum, ' Union men, 
or revolutionists, the allies of Black Kepublicans, Abo- 
litionists, and traitors,' who ' leave their slime behind 
them as they walk the streets of Fredericksburg' ? 
How long will it be before another ' reaction, a ground- 
swell in old Fredericksburg,' takes place, throwing 
off secessionists and those who would precipitate our 
happy country into a civil war ?" 

Strange as it may appear to the intelligent reader, 
the " Virginia Herald" had always been, from the 
time of our acquaintance with it, (and that was for 
more than fifteen years,) an uncompromising Whig 
journal, the organ of that party in Fredericksburg, 
and the gentleman who was the editor at the time of 
which we are writing had been an uncompromising 
Whig, and one of the strongest supporters of Bell and 
Everett to be found in all Virginia, — a man in whose 
nostrils the loco-foco or Democratic party stunk. He 
denounced the Breckinridge party as disunionists 
during the whole Presidential campaign of 1860, and 
placed at the head of his paper, as a motto, " The 
Union, the Constitution, and enforcement of the laws." 
And early in the month of March, 1861, a little over 
three months from the election of Mr. Lincoln, he un- 
furls the contemptible secession flag, and declares to 
the world openly and publicly in his paper that 
"there has been a reaction, just as we have always 
said there would be; and it has come like a ground- 



THE SOUTH SACEIFICED. 175 

swell in old Fredericksburg." Always, with the 
Herald, is about sixty days, and, at the furthest, not 
more than ninety days ! 

In the notice the " Virginia Herald" gave of the 
Union meeting on Monday night, it says, — 

" The vote was taken, and, from the sound, we 
suppose from twenty-five to fifty were in favor of 
them," (the resolutions.) "The noes predominated 
largely." 

To which we replied, in the number of the "Chris- 
tian Banner" of March 14, 1861, as follows : — 

"Is it possible that our neighbor of the 'Herald' 
can 'suppose,' 'from the sound' of the vote taken on 
Monday night, that there were only ' from twenty-five 
to fifty' Union votes given? He makes a long jump, 
from twenty-five to fifty. Why did he not say from 
twenty-five to one hundred and fifty ? How could he 
leap to the positive conclusion that 'the noes pre- 
dominated largely' ? We. are informed, by a gentle- 
man who was in the crowd, that one man ' yelled' out 
no, nine times. Our honest conviction is that a 
majority of the voters, and especially of the property- 
holders, in the town of Fredericksburg are opposed to 
immediate secession. Time, however, will prove all 
things." 

The "Virginia Herald" said, — 

" Mr. Kowe took the stand, and advocated imme- 
diate secession." 

Why did not the " Herald" state the ridiculous and 
unfair circumstances under which Mr. Eowe took the 
stand ? And why did he not give a public rebuke to 
the tvreteh who threw the egg at us while we were 
speaking? He knew that all these things would not 



176 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

add any thing to the character and influence of the 
secession party abroad. 

The " Fredericksburg News," in a short notice of the 
meeting on Monday night, — another Whig journal, a 
strong advocate of Bell and Everett, — said, — 

" G-. H. C. Eowe and James W. Hunnicutt addressed 
the meeting in favor of ' revolution and fighting, not 
secession and retreat.' Anarchy seems to be upon us." 

To this we replied, in the same number of the " Ban- 
ner," namely, the 14th of March, 1861.— 

"The reader will perceive that the ' Herald' and 
'News' differ widely as to the position of Mr. Rowe. 
The ' Herald' states Mr. Eowe's position correctly. 
1 Mr. Howe advocated immediate secession.' Our posi- 
tion is ' revolution and fighting' if necessary, and ' not 
secession and retreat.' Let us demand our rights, fight 
for our rights, and maintain our rights to the death, 
and, if we fall in the fight, let us fight bravely and die 
honorably. Never fly from our rights and ignobly 
yield them up into the hands of our enemies. 

"Judging from the proceedings of last Monday 
night, it would seem that the reign of anarchy and 
terror is inaugurated. But free men and brave men 
will never yield to the dictations of tyrants and dema- 
gogues." 

We have given the above extracts to show to the 
reader that the secession party resorted to every con- 
ceivable means to crush out and annihilate the Union 
men of Virginia. Their orators lied, and slandered the 
Union party. Their public newspapers lied, and slan- 
dered the Union men of Virginia. And just as soon 
as the leaders of the Bell and Douglas parties became 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 177 

converted to secession and were baptized into the caul- 
dron containing the hellish liquid of Southern treason, 
they were as vituperative and vindictive in their de- 
nunciations of Union men as the original secessionists. 
The reader who was not a witness to the scenes which 
were acted out in Virginia during the year 1861 can 
form no adequate conception of the state of excitement 
which prevailed among all classes, sexes, ages, and con- 
ditions. Hell was spread out miscellaneously among 
the people, and all the discordant passions of the whole 
mass were stirred up, and the devil let loose generally. 
We had already become convinced that the real issue 
between secessionists and Union men was the simple 
question whether mind and liberty should govern in- 
stitutions and tyranny, or whether institutions and 
despotism should govern mind said freedom. In other 
words, whether three hundred and fifty thousand slave- 
holders should rule and govern thirty millions of 
American citizens, or whether thirty millions of Ameri- 
can citizens should rule three hundred and fifty thou- 
sand slave-holders. Are thirty millions of men capable 
of self-government ? Three hundred and fifty thousand 
negro-aristocrats respond, "No, they are not; and we 
will engage to rule and govern them." The proceedings 
of the two meetings of which we have written in this 
chapter more fully than ever convinced us of the cor- 
rectness of our former conclusion. The reign of terror 
and despotism had begun. Reason and liberty were 
scorned and sought to be trampled into the dust. 



178 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of 
March 21, 1861, we wrote and published the follow- 
ing:— 

* 

"PROVIDENCE— CAUSE AND EFFECT— COMMON SENSE, 
ETC. ETC. 

" It is often said that ' Providence will overrule all 
things for the best.' We have great faith in Provi- 
dence; but Providence does not destroy cause and effect, 
unless when the laws of nature are reversed and mira- 
cles are performed. 

" To every law of nature there is a penalty annexed, 
and every infraction of law calls for the enforcement 
of the penalty. A man thrusts his hand into the fire : 
the natural and lawful result is, he gets his hand burnt. 
"Why did he not trust to Providence, and thus prevent 
his hand from being burnt ? A man drinks and eats 
to excess : why does he not trust to Providence to pre- 
vent drunkenness and sickness, the natural effects of 
intemperance ? A man on the top of a lofty steeple 
says, 'I'll jump down, and trust to Providence to keep 
my neck from being broken by the leap :' what as- 
surance has he that Providence will save him from 
danger and death ? None whatever. 

" Eve, when she violated the law of Cod, might 
have said, ' I'll trust to Providence.' But what was the 
result ? Death. The children of Israel determined to 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 179 

rid themselves of theocracy, and demanded a king, and 
God permitted them to have a king ; and the subse- 
quent results are known to all Biblical students. 

" Providence permitted our ancestors to emigrate to 
this delightful country ; and when the yoke of British 
tyranny was laid upon their necks, Providence per- 
mitted them to throw it off and to establish a republican 
form of government. Providence has permitted fa- 
natics to spring up by thousands, and traitors by 
hundreds, who are now constantly and earnestly en- 
deavoring to overturn this glorious republic. And 
while they are engaged in this work of national ruin, 
the effects of which will be, if accomplished, the anni- 
hilation of our political and religious liberties, national 
and individual bankruptcy, war, pestilence, famine, and 
death, still there are those who constantly say, ' Well, 
we must trust to Providence : Providence will overrule 
all for the best.' 

" We say, let the people trust to their own good 
sense in this crisis, and go to work like men and patriots, 
relying on the mercy and power of God, discarding 
ambitious, unprincipled politicians, and all may yet be 
saved. If, however, the people yield their destinies 
into the hands of these political harpies, their ruin is 
inevitable. God may permit the overthrow of our 
Government, and the whole country to be drenched in 
blood, and the yoke of military despotism to be placed 
on our necks ; but when the work of ruin is accom- 
plished, it will be horrid blasphemy to say, ' Providence 
overruled all for the best.' This would be an infamous 
libel on Providence. 

" God permitted the Jews to be carried into cap- 
tivity, the land of Judea to be laid waste, Jerusalem 



180 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

and the holy temple to be demolished, his people, the 
Jews, to be scattered to the four corners of the earth. 
He permitted his only-begotten son Jesus to be cruci- 
fied, his disciples to be persecuted, imprisoned, and 
put to death, the churches to become corrupt. He 
permitted the supremacy of the Pope to be acknow- 
ledged throughout the Eastern and Western Churches, 
true Christianity for a time to become almost extinct, 
and the Roman hierarchy to sweep, like a desolating 
avalanche, over all Christendom. He permitted Roman 
Catholics to guillotine Protestants by thousands, and 
Protestants, in their turn, to decapitate Catholics. God 
permits men now to work their own ruin, and the ruin 
of those who become their dupes. ' If the blind lead 
the blind, both shall fall into the ditch' together. It is 
folly for men to say they trust in God and rely on 
Providence to overrule all things for the best, when 
they neglect to do their duty. 

" Providence would permit our present Legislature to 
remain in session until the expenses would bankrupt the 
whole State of Virginia, unless they should eat and 
drink themselves to death. Providence permits orato- 
rical demagogues to fire up and turn the hearts and 
heads of the people of one section against the people 
of another section of our country; to spend millions 
of money for munitions of war ; to go to fighting, and 
kill one another like wild beasts of the forest. All 
these things Providence permits, but does not will. 

"And now, if the people would be happy and pros- 
perous, and avoid ruin and death, let them exercise the 
good common sense which they have, and drop politi- 
cians, and shun them as the carrion-vultures of society, 
who are seeking their own promotion and interests at 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 181 

the expense of the good of the people and the salvation 
of their country. 

" If the people will, our country can yet be saved. 
Its destiny is with them. We believe that the hearts 
of the people, for the most part, are right and honest, 
but their heads are turned wrong by corrupt -poli- 
ticians. Some of these country-destroying dema- 
gogues have their eye on the Presidential chair, others 
are looking to the Senate and Congress halls, while 
others, again, have an eye on foreign missions or home- 
promotions, to gain which they would move heaven 
and earth, and sink our country in ruin, and blast the 
prosperity and happiness of the common people forever. 

" Every American citizen has an interest at stake 
in this matter, — the interest of his soul and body, — 
the interest of his family, his wife and children, and 
every interest that he holds near and dear on earth. 
The interest, yea, the salvation, of the whole country, 
and the interest of every man in it, are now at stake, 
except politicians, and those who are interested in the 
downfall and ruin of all others, so they may gain pro- 
motion. 

"Fellow-citizens, speak the life-preserving word, 
and save your country ! Snatch her from the hands 
of corrupt politicians as a brand from the everlasting 
burning, and God will bless you, and posterity will 
bless you, and your fame shall go down to latest pos- 
terity, when the names of corrupt politicians shall have 
been swallowed up in the deep vortex of eternal ob- 
livion. 

" Think, reader ! Twelve months ago we would as soon 
have thought that Christians would say, 'Down with 
the Bible ! down with the Cross of Christ!' as that those 

16 



182 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

professing to be patriots should now say, ' Down with 
the Constitution ! down with the accursed Stars and 
Stripes! down with the infernal Star-Spangled Ban- 
ner!' God, have mercy upon us !" 

"FIGHTING IN THE UNION. 

" By fighting in the Union we simply mean revolu- 
tion. If at anytime a Government becomes oppressive, 
and one part of the people, whether a majority or a 
minority, fail to obtain their constitutional rights, it 
then becomes their duty to throw off the yoke of op- 
pression by revolution. The Constitution of the United 
States belongs equally to each and every one of these 
several States, and guarantees equal rights to all. 

"The 'Stars and Stripes' are the guarantee to every 
citizen for the protection of his person, property, and 
reputation : if, therefore, any portion of the people of 
these United States shall attempt to deprive any other 
portion of the people of these States of their constitu- 
tional rights, the oppressed are justifiable in repelling 
any and all such aggressions at the point of the sword 
and bayonet, if they cannot otherwise obtain redress. 

" If, therefore, as is said, the people of the North 
have oppressed and made aggressions on the rights of 
the people of the South, it becomes the duty of the 
people of the South to state their grievances to the 
people of the North and demand their rights, and, if 
they fail to obtain them peaceably, then commence 
revolution, and by force of arms obtain their rights, 
and repel, put down, and crush out the lawless and 
oppressors. In this case, the law-abiding and consti- 
tution-loving men of the North would unite their 
influence and efforts with the oppressed and outraged 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 183 

people of the South, and fanaticism would be crushed 
out, and peace and harmony restored to our country. 
The Constitution, the ' Stars and Stripes,' the Federal 
city, and this whole country, belong to all the people 
of these United States; and we say, let us keep all, or 
lose all, and our lives into the bargain. This is fight- 
ing in the Union, and for the Union" — Christian 
Banner, 21st March, 1861. 

"What is the Virginia Legislature doing? What 
has it done? Why do not the people hold primary 
meetings, and call the rebels home ? Eemember, fellow- 
citizens, we the dear people have to foot all the bills. 
'Tis a shame, — an outrage upon the citizens of Virginia. 

" The purpose of the Legislature was, and is, to con- 
tinue in session during the session of the convention, 
and bring all their outside pressure to bear on the con- 
vention, to force that body to pass an ordinance of 
secession. Time is rolling on, and will drift the present 
politicians of the day into the shades of peaceful 
retirement, where they'll live unknown and forgotten 
and die unlamented. The people should begin to think 
and to act for themselves. Politicians are looking after 
their own interests, not caring a farthing for the inte- 
rests of the people, and, unless the people look to their 
own interests, politicians will reduce them and the 
whole country to one common ruin." — Christian Ban- 
ner, 21st March, 1861. 

11 Call the rebels home! 1 — This body of Virginia- 
Legislators voted themselves the State, in that they 
called a State convention, without consulting the wishes 
of the people of the State, knowing, as they well did, 



184 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

that if the simple question, convention or no convention, 
for the purpose of deciding whether Virginia should se- 
cede or not, had been presented, the people of the State 
would have ignored a convention by at least sixty 
thousand majority. They usurped the power, assumed 
the heavy and terrible responsibility, and called the 
convention, — thus placing upon the necks of the dear 
people the iron heel of usurped legislative despotism, 
involving the State in debt, and forcing her out of the 
Union, and thus securing the downfall and utter ruin 
of Virginia. The unmitigated curses of Virginians 
and of the whole country will, in all coming time, be 
heaped upon the nest of legislative traitors who, in the 
winter and spring of 1861, forced Virginia out of the 
Union, and effected her final and eternal ruin, so far as 
the happiness and well-being of the then population 
of the State and of their children are concerned. 
They were a set of unprincipled, ambitious, aspiring 
usurpers of the rights of the people, violators of the 
Constitution of the State of Virginia, and perjured 
scoundrels against the Government of the United 
States, because, in taking their oath of office, they 
swore they would observe and protect the Constitution 
of the State of Virginia, and the Constitution and laws 
of the United States, when, in fact, they went there 
with but one object in view, and that was to break up 
the Government, as their whole course of action and 
the results of their actions have subsequently proved. 
They were rebels, traitors to God, to the people of 
Virginia, to Virginia herself, to the Constitution and 
Government of the United States, and to the whole 
country. We saw plainly what they were doing, and 
what they had determined to do, and, therefore, we 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 185 

warned the people of Virginia against them. They 
ought not only to have been called home, but tried and 
punished for treason after getting home. All these 
things, however, may be warnings to others in ages to 
come, and in this way be productive of good. 

The reader will not be surprised when we inform 
him that our patronage was constantly diminishing, 
and we saw plainly that we should be forced to discon- 
tinue the publication of our paper. We had a large 
amount of money due us; but this was scattered all 
over the Southern States, and men, for the most part, 
had declined paying us, as money-matters had become 
exceedingly stringent in Virginia, and the stay-law was 
producing its desired effect, and times were looking 
squally ahead. We received many very discouraging 
letters, containing threats and making insinuations 
which, sustaining the relation we did to our churches, — 
all of which were in the slave States, — tended to disturb 
what little of peace and happiness we might other- 
wise have enjoyed. The " Banner" had already become 
offensive to some even who were members of our 
churches, in consequence of the decided stand we had 
taken for the Union and against secession. 

All the personal ties and interests we had on earth 
were in the slave States, and most of them south of 
the Potomac Eiver. In looking into the terribly awful 
future, we saw nothing but sorrow, tribulation, priva- 
tion, and distress before us. The distress of mind and 
deep anguish of heart which we suffered, none but God 
could know. 



16* 



186 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

SAINT PAUL AND THE GOSPEL, AND THE REV. DR. GEORGE W. 
CARTER AND SECESSION — A CONTRAST. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of March 
28, 1861, we wrote and published the following article. 
We give it entire and complete, just as it appeared 
in the " Banner." 

"THE GOSPEL. 

" Gospel signifies good news, glad tidings, from the 
Greek euaggelizoo, to bring glad tidings, to announce 
as glad tidings, to declare as matter of joy. 

" At the winding up of the Jewish dispensation, when 
the sceptre was about to depart from the hand of Judah, 
and the last lawgiver from between his feet, Shiloh 
comes, — the dawning of the Sun of righteousness 
appears in the east, — the darkness of the Jewish dis- 
pensation is being dissipated, — an angel from heaven 
is despatched, and comes flying down to earth to 
announce to the fearful, sorrowing children of men 
the everlasting and universal good will to all men. 
1 Behold,' said the angel, 'I bring you good tidings 
of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto 
you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord.' 

" Eo sooner does the angel proclaim Messiah's birth 
to the shepherds who watched their flocks by night, 



TEE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 187 

than immediately a multitude of the heavenly host join 
the angel, and, their voices commingling, swell the an- 
them of praise, ' Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace, good will towards men.' This was a 
song befitting the angel of God and the multitude of 
the heavenly host. It was good news from God to all 
men, — through all time. This is the gospel. 

" Said Christ to his disciples, after his resurrection 
from the dead, ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature.' The angel of God announced 
Messiah's birth. The grand discovery that God is 
reconciled to man must be proclaimed by men to men. 
Hence says the Apostle Paul, ' For when we were yet 
without strength, in due time Christ died for the 
ungodly ; for scarcely for a righteous [a legally just] 
man will one die; yet peradventure [perhaps] for a 
good [benevolent] man some would even dare to die ; 
but God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we 
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For if when we 
were enemies Ave were reconciled to God by the 
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we 
shall be saved by his life.' 

" The manifestation of the Father's love is the cause 
of the sinner's reconciliation to God. Saint Paul says, 
■ All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to him- 
self by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry 
of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the 
word of reconciliation.' 

" From this it will be observed that God is recon- 
ciled to man ; but the difficulty is in getting sinners to 
become reconciled to God. 



188 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" Hence continues the same apostle, ' Now, then, 
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did be- 
seech you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye 
reconciled to God.' 

" Is not this plain ? Could Heaven make it more 
so ? God unconditionally loved the world. He deve- 
loped that love by unconditionally sending his Son into 
the world to die for all men. Christ developed his own 
love, in that he died unconditionally for all men. 
Christ died a voluntary death : — ' Therefore doth my 
Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I 
might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but 
I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, 
and I have power to take it again.' 

" Christ died a vicarious death. He, the inno- 
cent, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from 
sinners, died in the stead of sinners, that they might 
live. ' For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the 
just for [or in the stead] of the unjust, that he might 
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but 
quickened by the Spirit.' The two great gospel facts 
are these : — First, Christ died for our sins, according 
to the old Jewish Scriptures : secondly, he rose again 
from the dead, according to the Jewish Scriptures. 
This is the pith of the glad tidings sent down from 
heaven to earth, — from God to man, — to all men. So 
says the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corin- 
thian church : — 

" 'Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel 
which I preached unto you, which also ye have re- 
ceived, and wherein ye stand; by which [gospel] also 
ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached 
unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I de- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 189 

livered unto you first of all that which I also received, 
how that Christ died for our sins ; according to the 
Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose 
again the third day, according to the Scriptures.' 

" This was the apostle's theme at all times, in all 
places, and under all circumstances : — ' For I deter- 
mined,' says he, 'not to know any thing among you, 
save Jesus Christ and him crucified.' 

" After his conversion, Paul preached in the synagogues 
of the Jews, and declared that Christ was the Son of 
God. In the midst of infuriate mobs, — in the councils 
of the Jews, — at the tribunals of governors and kings, — 
he boldly preached Christ and the resurrection, basing 
the truth and certainty of the resurrection of all men 
from the dead upon the fact that Christ rose from the 
dead. • But if there be no resurrection of the dead, 
then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, 
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 
Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God ; because 
we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom 
he raised not up, if the dead rise not.' 

"Now, let us place in juxtaposition the ribaldry of 
these learned doctors of divinity, who are itinerating 
through the country trying to destroy the purest Gov- 
ernment on earth, and bringing our country to bank- 
ruptcy and ruin, with the preaching and teaching 
of the holy apostles of Jesus Christ. Take, as a spe- 
cimen, extracts from the great speech of the Rev. Dr. 
George W. Carter, delivered at Phoenix Hall, as re- 
ported by the Petersburg (Va.) 'Express.' Read the 
following : — 



190 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



"REV. DR. GEORGE W. CARTER'S GREAT SPEECH AT 
PHCENIX HALL. 

"Dr. Carter proceeded to state and vindicate the 
views and policy of those who held that the true 
remedy for their troubles was in secession. He argued 
that secession was expedient, — rendered so by the un- 
friendly purposes of the Northern people, their seizure 
of power over us, their deep, radical difference in 
moral sentiment, which rendered concord hopeless and 
made them the abiding foes of our forms of social 
organization. [Applause]. Secession, so far from being 
a destructive process, was eminently conservative in 
its effects. He used the term conservative in its po- 
litical — not in its party — sense. In Texas, his country, 
when a man had neither the wit to perceive nor the 
courage to maintain his rights, he generally fell back 
on that last refuge of imbecility, and called himself 
'a conservative. 1 Secession was conservative in the 
true sense. It preserved our rights and institutions 
by rejecting the control that sought to destroy them. 
[Great applause]. 

" ' Our Government,' continued the speaker, 'had left 
local interests to local management, and intrusted only 
the common interests to common management. This 
was its grand idea, its inspiration. This, however, 
the Northern people do not seem to understand. They 
seek to regulate our local institutions according to their 
ideas, — to put the order of things as established among 
us "in a course of extinction," and to make our four 
millions of negroes the equals of the white man. The 
end at which they aim would ruin us. The means by 
which they would accomplish it revolutionizes the Gov- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 191 

ernment. We can submit to neither. Secession is 
absolutely necessary, both to secure our rights, and to 
maintain the local authority which is their guarantee.' " 

"Take the following as a specimen of the reverend 
doctor's logic, by which he arrives at the culminating- 
point, — secession. — Editor Christian Banner. 

"The close of the lengthy and able address of Dr. 
Carter was fired with frequent bursts of fervid elo- 
quence. He earnestly appealed to Virginians to rally 
at once to the side of their brethren of the South, and 
assist them in laying the foundation of an empire which 
held out such unexampled promise of prosperity and 
happiness. 'The Southern people,' said he, 'are your 
children, — bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh, — 
your descendants. They love you, long for you, wait 
for you, desire you as their leader. They know you 
will come and must come ; but they are anxious for 
you to come immediately. For themselves, their course 
is taken. With you, or without you, they will main- 
tain their position. They are able to do it, and, by the 
blessing of God, they will do it.' [Tremendous applause.] 

" 'Some of you,' said the speaker, 'talk of "fighting 
in the Union." ' He scarcely knew which to admire 
most, — the wisdom or the pluck of such a position. 
For one, he could fight on no such platform. In the 
first place, we did not desire to whip the North. If 
the South conquered them, they would not know what 
to do with them. Like the buffalo calf, after they were 
caught they could not be held. [Great laughter.] If 
he could choose to receive a halter on his neck before 
he would demand his rights, he would then claim the 



192 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

poor privilege of sealing his lips and bowing without 
murmur or resistance to the yoke. 

" The speaker would say in all kindness to these gen- 
tlemen, that, when they thus talked about 'fighting/ 
they were mistaken. They were not going to fight. 
They might think they would, but they wouldn't. The 
anecdote related by the English satirist was peculiarly 
illustrative of the class of Unionists to which the 
speaker had just referred. The henpecked husband 
was ordered under the bed. On one occasion a large 
number of the neighboring dames had congregated, as 
usual, to gossip. The poor husband, becoming some- 
what excited, peeped out. His wife gave him a sig- 
nificant look, and he withdrew his head. The gossip 
becoming more and more exciting, the poor husband 
again protruded his head. The wife again shook her 
finger, but it did not have the desired effect. Becoming 
enraged, she seized a broomstick and proceeded to force 
back the objectionable head. The courageous husband 
succumbed, and again tucked his head under the bed, 
but protested his courage by declaring that so long as 
he had the spirit of a man he would peep. [Immode- 
rate laughter.] 'So,' said the speaker, 'with those who 
will fight in the Union. Mr. Lincoln is reinforcing 
your forts, filling your post-offices with men of his own 
selection, and gradually binding you hand and foot. 
By-and-by he will get you under the Black Bepub- 
lican bed. You may then desire to peep out ; but Mr. 
Lincoln will beat you back with the Federal broom- 
stick.' [Benewed laughter.] 

" The speaker had prepared himself for this great work 
amid much trial and trouble. He had prayed on his 
bended knees for the Union, but, when he ascertained 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 193 

that it was hopelessly and irretrievably gone, he re- 
solved to do his duty to God and his country." 

" Contrast the call of Dr. Carter to itinerate to preach 
secessionism, with the call of Saul to preach the gospel 
of Jesus Christ. Here's the call, as related by the doctor, 
and reported by the 'Petersburg Express.' — Editor of 
the Christian Banner. 

"An affecting incident was related. One day, while 
in sad meditation, by his own fireside, upon the condi- 
tion of the country, and the propriety of addressing his 
fellow-citizens on these great questions, at their earnest 
solicitations, his wife observed his sadness, and bade 
him go forward and never mind what the world said. 
'I will pray for you,' she added. His little boy of 
eight years, who must have obtained his knowledge of 
public affairs from the papers, said, ' Pa, if all the South 
will go out, I don't think we'll have a fight; but I 
think we had better go, fight or no fight.' And then 
his little daughter, still younger than her brother, — his 
own dear little Daisy, who was as gentle as the flower 
from which she derived her name, — said, ' Yes, pa ; you 
and Mr. W. [a member of the family] can help to 
fight, and God and brother Jimmy will take care of 
me.' 'The man would be worse than craven, 1 said the 
speaker, ' who, under such circumstances, could fail in 
his duty to his family and his country.' [Tremendous 
applause.]" 

The following is the comment on the above which 
we made and published in the " Christian Banner" at 
the time we published the above speech : — 

17 



194 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

"This was a powerful call. 'His wife bade him go 
forward and never mind what the world said.' ' I will 
pray for you/ she added. He receives his commission 
from his wife, who promises him her prayers for his 
success in breaking up the Government and in destroying 
the country. His little boy of eight years says, 'Pa, 
if all the South will go out, I don't think we'll have a 
fight; but I think we had better go, fight or no fight.' 
An intelligent, ' spunky' little boy, that ! And then his 
little daughter, still younger than her brother, said, 
'Yes, pa; you and Mr. W. can help to fight, and God 
and brother Jimmy will take care of me.' Surely 'his 
own dear little Daisy, who was as gentle as the flower 
from which she derived her name,' would be safe in the 
hands of God, with little Jimmy, eight years old, to 
help him take care of her. Intelligent little Daisy ! 
Worthy to be taken care of! 

" Who could resist such a call as this to go forth 
into all the world and preach secession to every crea- 
ture? He that believes secession and runs shall be 
saved ; but he who stays at home and defends his rights, 
bravely meeting the foe and driving him back, shall 
be beaten with the broomstick or be damned. May 
Heaven preserve us ! The whole ' affecting incident' 
well befitted the speaker, the subject, and the occasion. 
If secession and Abolition doctors of divinity meet 
together in the next world, they'll either kick up a row 
and secede, or else get kicked out themselves. Alas for 
Christianity! Alas for the Bible! Alas for the 
pulpit ! Alas for our country ! 

Such were the brief remarks we made on the great 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 195 

speech of Mr. Carter, at tlie time we published it in the 
"Christian Banner." 

ANNOTATIONS ON THE ABOVE CHAPTER. 

Doctors of Divinity. — Of these titled divines, George 
W. Carter is a doctor of Southern Methodist divinity, 
as well as of Southern Methodist treason. That he has 
acted well his part in effecting the eternal and temporal 
destruction of his fellow-men to the full extent of his 
influence and abilities, we doubt not. The evidences 
before us are full and direct to the point. 

Does he not profess, according to the discipline of his 
Church, to be "called and sent of Cod to preach," and 
to be "anointed with the unction of the Holy Ghost," 
to enable him faithfully to perform the work of an 
evangelical minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus 
Christ ? To resist his authority and teaching, there- 
fore, is to virtually resist the authority of God and the 
teachings of the Holy Ghost. If this be not a fair de- 
duction from the premises assumed by the reverend 
gentleman, that he is "called and sent of God to 
preach," then he comes before the people with a lie in 
his mouth, saying that he is called of God to preach, 
when God has not called him to any such work, and 
that he is anointed of the Holy Ghost, when the Holy 
Ghost has had nothing to do with him more than with 
other hardened reprobates. 

For the sake of argument, however, let us suppose 
that God has "called and sent him to preach." To 
preach what ? To preach the disruption and downfall 
of the greatest, happiest, and most prosperous nation 
on the earth, and the overthrow of the purest and best 
form of human government the world has ever known. 



196 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

To preach the inauguration of civil war, death to un- 
told thousands, and all the afflictions, sorrows, and 
woes that earth can inflict upon thirty millions of un- 
dying souls. To preach secession, the disintegration of 
the American Eepublic, the annihilation of liberty and 
all the blessings of freedom, as absolutely necessary, to 
secure the rights and perpetuity of our local institu- 
tions, — that is, the perpetual bondage of our four mil- 
lions of negroes, and their future increase forever. To 
preach persecution, imprisonment, proscription, and 
death by hanging, and all the terrors of a Southern 
Methodist orthodox hell, to all Union men, submis- 
sionists, and Abolitionists. To preach and send true 
patriots and loyal citizens to perdition, by tapping 
them on the head with an old woman's broomstick, be- 
cause they won't wheel into the line of divinity traitors 
and be baptized in the pool of Southern treason. To 
preach, at all times, in all places, under all circum- 
stances, and at every hazard, the perpetual bondage of 
African slavery. In a word, God has " called and sent," 
and the "Holy Ghost has anointed," these reverend 
divines to preach negroism first, negroism last, and 
negroism forever ! This is the work and the character 
of preaching in which these Southern Methodist doctors 
of divinity have been engaged for the last twenty-five 
or thirty years at least. 

What gave rise to the severance of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in the city of New York in 1844, 
which was the entering wedge to the disruption of the 
Federal Union? Negroism! What was the popular 
topic discussed by the reverend doctors of divinity, 
Messrs. Wm. A. Smith, Leroy M. Lee, Eev. Mr. Eosser, 
and a host of other underling divines, when they were 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 197 

stumping the State of Virginia in 1849, '50, '51, &c, 
when all the divine eloquence of their souls was thrown 
into the subject, and they were delivering speeches 
nine hours long, — as in the case of Mr. Eosser, — to fire 
up the Southern heart, and stir up vindictive feelings 
against the people of the North? Negroism! The 
Southern Methodist pulpit has been prostituted for the 
last twenty or thirty years by the preaching of negro- 
ism to the people, instead of preaching the gospel 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, — peace on earth, and good 
will toward all men! These doctors of divinity, and 
their little, inflated understrappers, have performed 
their full share of treasonable work in breaking 
up the Government of these United States. " The 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South," was based upon 
negroism; and it was this circumstance, more than 
all others combined, that gained it popularity in the 
South. The Southern clergy pandered to the cupidity, 
pride, and vanity of slave-holders, because they 
wanted their salaries, parsonages, sectarian schools, 
academies, colleges, fine meeting-houses, &c, for all of 
which they were dependent, to a very great extent, on 
large slave-holders, cotton and tobacco, rice and sugar 
planters, &c. Eternity alone can develop the incalcu- 
lable amount of mischief the Southern pulpit has effected 
towards introducing the cruel war which is now raging 
among the American people. The withering and blight- 
ing influence of their teachings and preaching was felt 
in all States, counties, cities, towns, villages, neighbor- 
hoods, communities, and families in the whole South. 
The clergy were everywhere, and among all classes, 
scattering the seeds of discord and strife all over the 

17* 



198 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

country. Take, for example, the case of the " Rev. Dr. 
George W. Carter." 

"In Texas, his country." — Why did not the reverend 
gentleman remain in Texas, his own country? Be- 
cause " his wife bade him go forward" into Old Vir- 
ginia and preach secession to every creature. Virginia 
was slow to understand, and hard to believe, all that 
was promised by secession orators and written by 
secession editors, and her delay was about to prove 
ruinous to the cause of the Southern Confederacy, and, 
to urge her to take the suicidal step, the learned Dr. 
Carter came on a holy mission from Texas, his own 
country, to say to Virginia, " The Southern people are 
your children, — ' bone of your bone and flesh of your 
flesh/ — your descendants. They love you, long for 
you, wait for you, desire you as their leader. They 
know you will come, and must come, but they are 
anxious for you to come immediately." He visited 
Petersburg, Eichmond, Alexandria, Lynchburg, &c. ; 
and everywhere the great burden of his important 
mission was, Virginia will come, must come, but we 
"are anxious" for her "to come immediately." He 
came to strike the death-knell of Old Virginia and all 
her greatness, glory, honor, prosperity, and happiness. 
He came to urge "Virginians to rally at once to the 
side of their brethren of the South, to assist them in 
laying the foundations of an empire which held out 
such unexampled promise of prosperity and happiness." 
He came, however, in fact, to robe "Virginians" in their 
winding-sheets, and leave them on the battle-fields to 
slumber until God shall bid them rise. Can the doctor, 
with all his "fervid eloquence," undo the awful work 
of ruin and death, which he aided to the extent of his 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 199 

abilities in accomplishing? Can he restore, by his 
"fervid eloquence," to their parents, wives, and children, 
the thousands of sleeping dead who lie on the battle- 
fields at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Richmond, Manassas, 
Cedar Mountain? — in a word, the unknown thousands 
who have fallen in battle and now lie sleeping in death 
on Virginia's sacred soil? Can he soothe and bind up 
the aching hearts of aged fathers and mothers, of sor- 
rowing widows and suffering children? What word of 
consolation could he whisper in their ears? Would he 
tell them he came from " Texas, his country," to argue 
that secession was expedient, — that secession was con- 
servative, — that " secession was absolutely necessary 
to secure our rights" and to enable us to hold on to 
our four millions of negroes f Great God ! reader, 
look at the picture. Think of the man, — this learned 
doctor of divinity, — who was evidently either a fool 
or a knave, — and then think that there- were thousands 
on thousands all over the South, of the same clerical 
and doctor-oi-divinity order, who were engaged in the 
same hellish work of dissolving the Union and pre- 
ciptating the country into revolution and civil war. 
To say that God Almighty ever called and sent such 
fools or knaves — for either the one or the other they 
must be — to preach the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ, 
is a libel on the wisdom, goodness, justice, and cha- 
racter of Jehovah ; and none but fools can believe it. 

And here we must be allowed to say — and we say it 
because we know it to be true — that the clergy of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the clergy of 
the South generally, are worldly-minded, money-loving, 
money-making, and money-saving men, hard masters, 
severe ne^ro-drivers, and absolute petty tyrants. They 



200 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

are proud, vain, pompous, self-important, self- conceited, 
dictatorial, intolerant, and proscriptive. And sucli are 
the " called and sent of God to preach the gospel of 
Jesus Christ." Good Lord, deliver us from such a set 
of theological hucksters, who deal out adulterated truth 
by the small, for a pecuniary consideration, to God's 
children, who are hungering and thirsting after right- 
eousness ! 

11 Our four millions of negroes." — The reader cannot 
fail to observe that to fasten the chains of perpetual 
bondage on " our four millions of negroes" and their 
future increase was paramount to any and all other 
considerations with Dr. Carter and with the whole fra- 
ternal band of leading conspirators of the South. Let 
our sons be butchered upon the battle-field ; let ten 
thousand hospitals be filled with the wounded, the sick, 
the dying, and the dead; but let us hold on to "our 
four millions of negroes" ! Let thousands of women be 
made widows, millions of children be made orphans ; 
let one long, loud, universal cry of sorrow, lamentation, 
and woe go up to heaven; but let us hold on to "our four 
millions of negroes" ! Robe a nation of thirty millions 
of souls in the winding-sheet, and let angels weep, and 
all the hosts of heaven stand appalled, and devils 
damned be jubilant, at the wickedness of mortals, and 
at the downfall of the greatest, most civilized, and most 
thoroughly Christianized nation in all the world, but 
let us hold on to " our four millions of negroes" ! 

11 Their leader" — This was a favorite argument with 
secesh orators. Virginia was to be the leader in the 
Southern Confederacy. On this they poured out tor- 
rents of " fervid eloquence." Virginia was to be the 
great leader in this vast " empire which held out such 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 201 

unexampled promise of prosperity and happiness." Oh, 
the trickery, the villany, the deep, black, damnable ras- 
cality, that was employed to coax, swindle, and force 
Virginia out of the Union, and to consequent ruin, by 
these clerical demons and wicked, aspiring politicians ! 
Let them come and take a wide survey of Virginia's 
greatness, prosperity, and happiness now, and say if her 
leadership is enviable ! Ay, reader, " beneath the folds 
of the white robes of the Church lie hid the keys of 
empire and an iron sceptre." 

" Tucked his head under the bed." — This, reader, is a 
specimen of the ridiculous stories and anecdotes that 
were constantly narrated in the public speeches of these 
clerical and political secesh orators, to stir up and excite 
the baser passions of their audiences to vindictiveness 
against the whole people of the North. We speak what 
we do know, and testify what we have seen and heard. 

11 Affecting incident" — Without questioning the truth 
of the affecting incident as narrated by the learned 
doctor, was it not a shameful reason to urge upon an 
intelligent audience, that a "man would be worse than 
craven who, under such circumstances, could fail in his 
duty to his family and his country" ? That is to say, 
who would fail in his duty to introduce sorrow, afflic- 
tion, hunger, nakedness, famine, and death into his 
family, by disrupting his country and precipitating revo- 
lution and civil war, with all their accompanying train 
of evils and horrors. But " his little boy of eight 
years said, ' Pa, if all the South will go out, I don't 
think we'll have a fight; but I think we had better 
go, fight or no fight.' And then his little daughter, 
still younger than her brother, — his own dear little 
Daisy, — said, 'Yes, pa; you and Mr. W. can help 



202 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

to fight, and God and brother Jimmy will take care of 
me!" Precocious infants these! There's the story, 
reader : you can think of it as you please. But why 
was the story told by the doctor ? To stir up the 
sympathies of his hearers, and to enlist the feelings 
of men, women and children, old men and old women, 
little boys and girls, to influence them to raise the cla- 
mor and force Virginia out of the Union. Surely the 
doctor must have thought that he was at a Southern 
Methodist revival, as such stories are generally em- 
ployed on those occasions to force people to the 
" mourners' bench, to get religion !" Such, intelligent 
reader, were the means to which these Southern orato- 
rical traitors resorted to stir up the vile passions and 
tender sympathies of all classes to influence them to 
force Virginia out of the Union. 

We have extended our remarks and entered thus 
largely into the details of the " Great Speech of the 
Eev. Dr. George W. Carter" and the circumstances 
connected with it, not because it is an isolated case, 
but as a tolerably fair specimen of the trickery used by 
the Southern secesh clergy generally, and by political 
secesh orators, to precipitate Virginia into secession 
and ultimate ruin. How effectually they succeeded in 
their work of destruction her subsequent history will 
show. 

In connection with this subject, we will just state 
that one of the strongest reasons why the females of 
the South were, and still are, so bitter and vindictive in 
their feelings towards the "old Union," the "Stars and 
Stripes," and Union men generally, and the Union men 
of the South particularly, is owing to the great influence 
the clergy exercise over their minds. Hence it was ar- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 203 

gued that secession must be right, " because the women 
and children believed and said it was right." They be- 
lieved and said it was right because their preachers told 
them that they believed it was right. And it would 
never do to call in question the opinions and dicta of 
men " called and sent of God" to preach treason, though 
black as hell. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of March 
28, 1861, we wrote and published the following : — 

"SIGNS OF THE GREAT UPHEAVING IN THE SECEDED 
STATES. 

" When a boy, we witnessed the great Nullifica- 
tion excitement, as it was called, in the State of South 
Carolina. Then there were Nullifiers and Unionists, 
and the contention was as hot between those two par- 
ties as has ever been the contention between the North 
and South. And we now believe that, if the ques- 
tion had then been left to the vote of the people, a large 
majority would have been for the Union. Knowing 
this to have been the case, we have all the time had 
our doubts as to whether the people generally in the 
seceded States went understanding^ and heartily into 
the act of secession. 

" Had it even been left to the vote of the people, how 
could they, in little over five weeks, have informed 
their minds on so grave a subject so as to be able to cast 
their votes understanding^ ? What 1 enlighten the 
people of a whole State in the short period of some 



204 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

five or six weeks on subjects which many reading men 
do not profess to understand? This seems to have 
been taken for granted by the leaders: hence they 
ignored the intelligence, will, action, voice, and 'power 
of the 'people. And just look at it. 

" The people of the Southern Confederacy, thus being 
ignored by their leaders, are now to be regarded as 
traitors and submissionists, and to be trodden down 
and crushed out, if they enter a disclaimer against the 
usurpation of power exercised by their leaders. 

"A reaction is bound to take place as soon as the 
people fully understand the political trap in which they 
have been caught. A free and independent people do 
not like to be led as sheep to the slaughter; and, when 
they once understand the trick which has been imposed 
upon them, and begin to feel the burden uncondition- 
ally placed on their shoulders, there will be a ground- 
swell that will astonish the leaders in this fearful 
drama, and a revolution which we fear will be terrible 
in its character. We think it vitally important, there- 
fore, that our readers should understand this subject, 
and understand it well, as our very being depends upon 
its final results. Bead, in proof of the truth and cor- 
rectness of the foregoing remarks, the following extracts 
from Southern newspapers. They speak for them- 
selves. The Tuscumbia 'North Alabamian,' in its 
issue of the 22d instant, remarking upon the course of 
Congress at Montgomery, says, — 

" However our people in this section of the State 
may have differed with a majority of the convention 
touching the policy of that majority on the subject of 
immediate secession, there should be no division among 
us in support of the declaration that ' we will sustain 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 205 

the honor and dignity of Alabama, whether assaulted 
by fanatics North or South.' There has been, however, 
a manifest distrust or disregard of the popular senti- 
ment by the leading politicians of Alabama, in with- 
holding the secession ordinance from a vote of the 
people ; and the tendency still is, if we are not mis- 
taken in the movements of the political chess-board of 
those leaders, to remove still further all power from the 
immediate action of the people. What voice had they 
in electing members to the Congress now in session at 
Montgomery ? And what voice, kind reader, do you 
think you will have in ratifying the constitution which 
that Congress has adopted ? By what authority have 
a President and Vice-President been elected to the Con- 
federate States of America ? When you elected your 
members to a State Convention, did you authorize a 
bare majority of that body to elect members to 
a Congress, to form a new Government, and to 
authorize still further the members of that conven- 
tion to elect a President, a Vice-President, and 
other officials ? These are questions for your serious 
consideration." 

The New Orleans "Picayune" complains, in the fol- 
lowing strain, of " the exercise by the State Convention 
of a power which has resulted in the assemblage of a 
Congress at Montgomery composed of citizens in whose 
election the people had no direct voice, whose action is 
devoid of any direct responsibility to the people, and 
whose assumed power was unlimited when assembled ; 
the imposition by the Congress upon the people of the 
Confederacy of a President and Vice-President in whose 
election the people had no direct share ; and the putting 
into operation of a constitution without it being subjected 

18 



206 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

to the customary ordeal of ratification or rejection at 
the ballot-box." 

The Tuscaloosa (Alabama) " Monitor" thus sums up 
its objections to the proceedings of the Alabama 
State Convention and the Southern Congress at Mont- 
gomery : — 

" We hold, first, that the ordinance of secession 
should have been submitted to the people for their rati- 
fication or rejection. Secondly, that the ordinance 
passed by the convention should have awaited the issue 
of this decision. Thirdly, that the people had the right, 
and it should have been given them, to have chosen the 
delegates to a Congress which was to have framed for 
them a Government for weal or woe. And we now de- 
mand that, the Government formed, its President, Vice- 
President, and officers should be submitted to the 
people for their approval or disapproval. If it is not, 
we shall, come weal or woe, attempt to fire the people's 
heart, to educate the people's mind, to know their rights 
and to dare maintain them. We are no submissionist; 
but right is right, and wrong is wrong, and we will not 
betray our trust. We assert that the people had a right 
to be heard, and, being heard, to be obeyed. And we 
intend to keep them posted in what we consider to be 
an infringement of their rights and of their privileges, 
let the worst come to the worst. If it be treason 
against the new Confederacy, make the most of it. We 
know we are right, and, untrammelled and unawed, we 
will defend the right." 

The Lagrange (Georgia) " Reporter" alludes in the 
following terms to a spirit of intolerance betrayed by 
certain representatives of the disunion press of the 
South. The "Reporter" says, — 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 207 

" We regret to see a spirit of intolerance manifested 
by a portion of the disunion papers of this State. They 
seem to have arrogated to themselves the office of 
censor. Every thing political that does not conform to 
their ideas of right they denounce as treasonable, and 
seem to insinuate that any thing but their own views 
will not be tolerated in the Southern Confederacy. 
Has the reign of terror begun ? Are we in the hands 
of red republicans ? If it has come to this, then we 
are certainly undone. We are as ready as any man to 
offer up our life, if need be, in defence of the rights 
of the South ; and we hold that we are no less true to 
those rights than these Hotspurs when we express our 
love for the old Union of our fathers. If it is treason 
for a citizen of the Southern Confederacy to express 
his dissatisfaction with the present Union, was it not 
equally as great a crime to denounce the old Union ? 
Treason has the same definition in the new as it had in 
the old Constitution. We hold ourselves to be loyal to 
the Southern Confederacy, and we greatly deprecate 
the disposition to inaugurate terrorism in our midst by 
professed friends." 

The Selma (Alabama) " Weekly Issue," a leading 
secession paper, reasons as follows upon the policy of 
receiving the border slave-holding States into the 
Southern Confederacy. The " Issue" says, — 

" We do not want such elements in our new Con- 
federacy. We desire no association with unwilling 
States, who, forgetful of every obligation of political 
consanguinity, and governed only by a cancerous selfish- 
ness, come to us for shelter when they can go nowhere 
else, — who seek association with their erring sisters only 
when exiled from the companionship of what they are 



208 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

pleased to regard as their more reputable Northern rela- 
tives. No. We have two potent reasons for esteeming 
the accession of the border States to our ranks a serious 
misfortune under existing circumstances. First, they 
would be continually hankering ' after the flesh-pots of 
Egypt/ and impeding our advance by propositions to 
return. ' Reconstruction/ in a thousand insidious forms, 
would creep into our councils and entwine itself around 
every effort at permanent organization, — would para- 
lyze every struggle for progress, and make the history 
of our Confederacy an endless alternation of imbecile 
dynasties. At every session of Congress this subject 
would be renewed. Our people would be divided, and 
the collision of parties upon this issue become as fierce 
and rancorous as it ever was upon slavery between the 
South and North." 

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING CHAPTER. 

We have already stated that we witnessed the great 
Nullification excitement which raged in the State 
of South Carolina in the years 1830-31 and 1832. 
Then there were two great antagonistic parties, the 
Nullifiers and the Unionists, and the contention be- 
tween them was as violent as had ever been the con- 
tention between the North and the South. 

John C. Calhoun was the champion and idol of the 
Nullification party, his followers regarding him as being 
the embodiment of all political orthodoxy; but, not- 
withstanding his great moral virtues, his immense 
wealth, his high order of intellect, and his superior 
accomplishments, he was unable to convert the whole 
State to his cherished principles of nullification and 
disunion. 



THE SOUTH' SACRIFICED. 209 

As we have just stated, there were two vehement 
parties desperately arrayed the one against the other. 
Men quarrelled and fought, women quarrelled and 
fought, boys quarrelled and fought, and mothers with 
infant children who for want of physical strength 
and a knowledge of language were unable to quarrel 
and fight, stuck blue-ribbon cockades on their little 
caps and hats, to let the Unionists know how and what 
they would do if they were only able. Ministers of all 
denominations took sides, and nullification and politics 
supplanted the gospel of Jesus Christ in the pulpits ; 
and the same unholy, infuriate, vindictive spirit and 
passions were developed then as were manifested be- 
tween the secessionists and Union parties at the out- 
burst of the present ungodly rebellion; and to what a 
deplorable extent matters might then have been car- 
ried, had it not been for the strong nerve, the moral 
courage, the iron will and whole-souled patriotic spirit 
of General Jackson, God only knows. 

The same spirit of nullification and rebellion which 
was then at work in the hearts of the children of dis- 
obedience, and which has been growing, increasing, 
and strengthening ever since, reached the culminating- 
point in December, 1860, in the passage of an ordi- 
nance of secession at Charleston, South Carolina, and 
subsequently by an attack being made on the glorious 
"flag" of our country, and the inauguration of civil 
war. 

When, in the month of December, 1860, at Pleasant 
Grove Meeting-House, in Green county, North Caro- 
lina, we saw, for the first time since the days of South 
Carolina nullification, a contemptible blue cockade, the 
sure and unerring emblem of damnable treason, stick- 
is* 



210 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

ing on the hat of a shallow-headed Breckinridge De- 
mocrat, in a moment our mind was carried back to 
the days of blue-ribbon cockades and South Carolina 
nullification; and, looking into the dark mysterious 
future, we trembled as we meditated on the sure and 
certain consequences. Then it was a dark and sad 
picture to contemplate; now we are suffering the stern 
realities. 

Why were the leaders in this rebellion afraid to 
submit the question to the people whether these con- 
ventions should be held at all or not ? And why were 
they afraid to submit their ordinances of secession to a 
vote of the people of the several States in which they 
were passed? Simply because they feared that the vote 
of the people would thwart their nefarious design to 
overthrow the Government. This is the only legi- 
timate reason that can be given why the will, action, 
and power of the people were ignored by these political 
Jesuits. "When these Democratic leaders were before 
the people begging for popular suffrage, they boasted 
that all power was lodged in the people ; but as soon as 
the convenient period, the appointed hour, the set time, 
arrived to overthrow the Government which the people 
themselves had created, the stream rose above the 
fountain, and the creature became superior to the creator, 
and all power and authority were wrested from the 
people, and usurped by a set of tyrants for the purpose 
of establishing a despotism over the dear people, and an 
accursed negro-oligarchy on the ruins of liberty and 
the rights of freemen. These are historical facts, 
which, black, infamous, and damning as they are, 
the ever-rolling stream of time will carry down to 
the latest posterity. And this is Democracy, — boasted 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 211 

Democracy, — Breckinridge Democracy, which was to 
save the country ! Oh, the beauties, the excellencies, 
the glories, the loveliness of Breckinridge Democracy ! 
Beader, it is nothing more nor less than demonocracy, — 
the power and government of devils ! Look at the work 
it has done. 

Ditches and pits have been filled with slaughtered 
men, hills and valleys have been bleached with the 
bones of our dear sons, fathers, brothers, neighbors, 
friends, and fellow-citizens, thousands of hospitals filled 
with the wounded, sick, and dying, loathsome prisons 
and dungeons filled with harmless, worthy, patriotic 
citizens, deprived of all the blessings and comforts of 
home and friends, and made to lie and pine away and 
die, without a friend to administer to their extreme 
wants while living or to drop a tear of love and sym- 
pathy over them when dying and dead, and all because 
they loved their country and were suspicioned by traitors. 
It has made maniacs of thousands of men and women. 
Look, also, at the maimed, the lame, the halt, and the 
blind : thousands of poor soldiers have their arms or 
legs shot off; others, again, have their mouths, noses, 
ears, or eyes shot off or cut up with scimeters, swords, 
or bayonets, and are otherwise disabled and made 
infirm for life. Look at the desolated farms, the 
empty corn and meat houses, the dreary mansions and 
lonely cottages, all over the country, filled only with 
destitute women, weeping widows, and poor little 
orphan children in rags and tatters, starving and 
crying for meat and bread, the very necessaries of 
actual existence, and no hand to extend to them relief. 
Look at the finest country God ever gave to man, laid 
waste and made desolate by men and beasts employed 



212 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

in the awful work of fratricidal slaughter. Look at a 
whole nation robed in mourning. Listen to the groans 
and wails of the sick, the wounded, and the dying. Listen 
to the melting strains, the weeping, wailing, deep, and 
loud lamentations of fathers, mothers, wives, sisters, 
children, brothers, friends, and neighbors. Think of 
the millions of sorrowful, throbbing, aching hearts, — 
the floods of tears which have flowed. Think of the 
unknown thousands of refugees, driven from their once 
quiet and peaceful homes, thrown among strangers, 
destitute of the means of support, many of them sepa- 
rated from their wives and children, deprived of all the 
blessings and comforts of home, sweet home! In a 
word, think of a whole nation immersed in sorrow and 
woe, and then tell us, reader, that this is not the work 
of devils ! 

The leaders, fearing to let the people know their in- 
fernal design to overthrow the Government, lest they 
might be defeated by the popular vote at the ballot- 
box, usurped the whole power, and have completed the 
work of ruin, and the whole responsibility now rests 
on them; and to God, the Judge of all the earth, and 
to the people, they are held responsible for all the 
horrors, bloodshed, and national and individual evils 
which have been and are now being produced by this 
wicked and cruel war. Oh, what a weighty, what a 
terrible retribution awaits the leaders in this awful 
drama ! 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 213 



CHAPTER XXV. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of March 
28, 1861, we wrote and published the following edito- 
rials : — 

"WHEN SHALL THE MILLENNIUM COME? 

" When shall the wilderness and the solitary place 
be glad for them? When shall the desert rejoice and 
blossom as the rose ? When shall the weak hands be 
strengthened, and the feeble knees confirmed? When 
shall the fearful in heart feel strong, and fear not? 
When shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the 
ears of the deaf be unstopped ? When shall the lame 
man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing 
for joy ? When shall waters break out in the wilder- 
ness, and streams in the desert? When shall all these 
things come to pass ? 

"When soft-headed, aspiring politicians shall be put 
to silence by the good sense of the people. When poli- 
tical tricksters and clerical knaves shall combine in 
infamous caucuses and secret councils to overthrow the 
Government and the country, and none but fools shall 
regard them. When sensible men and true patriots 
shall combine at every hazard to save the country, 
and knaves, traitors, fanatics, and treason shall be 
driven back to their native hell. When sensation 
speeches, false telegrams, mock compromises, extra 
legislative sessions, treasonable conventions, shall cease, 



214 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

and fools shall be disregarded by wise, common-sense 
men, and all shall be forced to attend to their own 
business, and every one compelled to get his bread by 
the sweat of his brow. When men shall learn to 
think and act for themselves, and cease to become the 
dupes of knavish priests and wicked politicans. When 
all shall become so thoroughly educated and enlight- 
ened as to refuse to let priests and demagogues lead 
them by the nose whithersoever they will. When the 
public mind shall have taken the second sober thought, 
and shall find by actual experience that secession, 
taxation, war, blood, death, and ruin are not the things 
they were represented to be, and shall determine to 
stand by the Constitution of our fathers and cause the 
' Stars and Stripes' to wave over all our happy land 
forever. 

"Then shall the waters of prosperity break out in the 
wilderness, and streams in all our deserts. Then they 
shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their 
spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
more. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and 
the lion shall eat straw like the bullock. 



" 'No more shall nation against nation rise, 
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, 
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er, 
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more; 
But useless lances into scythes shall blend, 
And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end ; 
The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead, 
And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead; 
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, 
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.' 

Pope." 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 215 

" We have no confidence in the final results of the 
many sensation meetings which are now being gotten 
up through the State of Virginia, and the immediate- 
secession resolutions which are being passed, and the 
instructions which are being sent to the members of 
the convention now in session to force them to vote 
for immediate secession. There are more things in 
heaven and earth than are dreamed of in the philo- 
sophy of wire- working, office-seeking politicians." — 
Christian Banner, March 28, 1861. 

At the time of writing the foregoing editorials, the 
whole country was kept in a continual state of feverish 
excitement. Sensation meetings were held all over the 
State, and especially all through the eastern part of 
Virginia. The speakers always had some secesh 
" cock-and-bull story," to create a tremendous sensa- 
tion. Sometimes the news would come direct that 
England and France had already acknowledged the 
independence of the Southern Confederacy, — were 
sending thousands on thousands of munitions of war to 
the South, — were going to send over their whole 
navies to crush out the Federal Government at once. 
Again, thousands from the North were on their way to 
join the South; the States of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Maryland were all 
on the eve of joining the Southern Confederacy. Such 
were the means to which secessionists resorted to force 
Virginia out of the Union. 



216 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

In the number of the Christian Banner of April 4, 
1861, we wrote and published the following editorials :— 

11 Position defined. — A new political move. — The 
Christians Bible, and the American Constitution. — 
Startling developments. — But there is no Union now. — 
Immediate, absolute, and eternal secession. — How is 
it ? — Important consideration. 

" Tis somewhat provoking, when one is conscious of 
the honesty and integrity of his own heart and pur- 
pose of life, to be misrepresented and slandered as 
being a traitor and an enemy to his country, and 
that, too, by his own familiar friends. Nothing is 
more common now than to hear those men who have 
been true to their country, and have maintained con- 
sistency throughout the whole political struggle 
through which our country has thus far passed, called, 
by those who please to dissent from them, by the op- 
probrious epithets of ' Abolitionists , submissionists to 
old Abe Lincoln, submissionists to Black Republican 
rule, the vassals of the tail end of the Northern Con- 
federacy, 1 &c. &c. 

"Let us impartially examine the facts in the case. 
During the last Presidential canvass there were four 
candidates in the field. The Bell-and-Everett electors 
took for their platform 'The Union, the Constitution, 
and enforcement of the laws.' To this platform the 
Douglas electors did not object. It was by both parties 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 217 

thought to be sufficiently sound and strong for them to 
stand on; and hence there seemed to be but little or 
no material difference, and certainly no important 
issue, between these two parties, and during the whole 
canvass, for the most part, they stood shoulder to 
shoulder. Each one of these parties accused the 
Breckinridge party of a premeditated design of break- 
ing up the Government in the event of a defeat. This 
the Breckinridge party denied; and when the ultraism 
of Newton and Yancey was introduced as evidence, the 
Breckinridge electors maintained that these men were 
not the proper exponents of the party, and that they 
did not reflect the true and correct sentiments of their 
party. All were opposed to the breaking up of the 
Union. The Bell and Douglas parties contended that 
Lincoln's election, would not be sufficient cause for a 
dissolution of the Union. The idea of disunion and 
secession was denounced in the most unqualified terms 
by the Bell and Douglas parties. 

"The election came off, and Lincoln was elected. 
All at once the country is thrown into a state of con- 
sternation; business becomes paralyzed, confidence is 
destroyed, general bankruptcy and universal anarchy 
threaten the whole country. What had happened? 
'Lincoln was elected President!' Well, what of it? 
Why all this national terror, disorder, and confusion 
because of the election of a single man to office? 
What could Lincoln do? Nothing, — positively no- 
thing! The conservative men had the power in both 
houses of Congress, and could have defeated any 
measure which might have been detrimental to the 
interests of the country or of any portion or section 
of the country. 

19 



218 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"Congress meets; and what is the result? Why, 
the Eepresentatives from the Gulf States said that 
they felt no interest in the Federal Government, — that 
their States were going to secede, and that they were 
only waiting the action of their States. Well, their 
States seceded, and they vacated their seats in Con- 
gress, and left the border States and the whole Federal 
Government in the hands and at the mercy of their 
enemies. The Representatives of the slave States are 
now in the minority, and the 'Black Republicans' can 
run over us and rule us at will and pleasure. What 
shall be done ? This was the question which stared 
the border States full in the face. 

" All at once the doctrine of secession is advocated 
in our midst, and disunion is sprung upon the people, 
and becomes popular and a petted thing. South Caro- 
lina is gone, and of necessity all the other slave States 
must go with her. 'This is our only remedy.' Yes, 
secession and disunion, which twelve months ago were 
execrated everywhere, and openly advocated by none — 
no, not one — in our whole community, now become abso- 
lutely necessary, as the only remedy by which we can 
maintain our honor and get our rights; and unless we 
'back out' and ignobly submit all our rights, yield up 
the whole reins of the Federal Government into the 
hands of Black Republicans, we must be branded with 
the odious epithets of l Abolitionists } submissionists to 
old Abe Lincoln/ &c&c. To tamely yield our rights 
into the hands of our enemies for fear we shall not be 
able to retain them if we were to maintain our ground 
and contend for them, is, in our opinion, submission, — 
yes, mean, cowardly submission, — a dastardly sub- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 219 

mission, to which we will never willingly yield or 
assent ! 

" That the remedy for the evils which threaten the 
South is to be found in secession and disunion is what 
we do not believe, and what yet remains to be proved. 
Great inducements are held out to us if we will join 
the 'Southern Confederacy.' The glories arising from 
the joining of this 'new Southern Confederacy' are 
all in the distant future; we know nothing of them, 
and, like Mohammed's heaven of wine and women, they 
exist only in the sickly imaginations of ambitious, dis- 
appointed politicians. We doubt whether one of 
Mohammed's followers has ever attained to that heaven 
even unto this day, and we equally doubt whether any 
one will ever realize the promised glories of this ' new 
Southern Confederacy,' until after the great general 
judgment-day of Almighty God. 

" All the slave States are interested in the final and 
equitable adjustment of the slavery question. The 
border States, however, are much more deeply inte- 
rested than the Gulf States, because they are and 
always have been the greater sufferers. It became, 
therefore, the duty of all these States jointly to de- 
mand such securities and guarantees for the protection 
of their rights as they might wish, or think neces- 
sary. This was the duty of all the slave States 
jointly. Had this been done, and had their ulti- 
matum been rejected by the North, then, and in that 
case, they would have been justifiable in commencing 
revolution, provided the causes of their grievances were 
of sufficient magnitude to warrant revolution. Then 
all the fifteen slave States, with the conservative ele- 
ment belonging to the free States, could have forced 



220 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

their claims, and would have obtained their constitu- 
tional rights, despite the fanatical hosts of Black Re- 
publicans. 

" But this was not done. Seven States seceded, and 
now, for fear the Black Republicans will overrun the 
border States, we are urged Ho go with our sister 
States.' For what? ' To keep from being bound with 
Lincoln's chain.' 'He is after us, and has his heel of 
iron, brass, and clay nearly on our necks/ and we must 
run, or be subdued. 'Run,' eh? 'Run,' reader! 
This word is not in the chapter, nor this chapter in 
our book. To run is no part of our programme. We 
don't run from our enemies. We don't submit and 
yield up our rights to our enemies without a manly 
effort to defend them. We are not afraid of President 
Lincoln; and, if we were, we think it would be bad 
policy to let him know it, — especially if he meditate 
harm against us. What ! confess we are scared, and 
run away even before the battle begins ? No ! never ! 
never ! A scared man is half whipped, to say the least 
of it. 

"A desperate effort was made to precipitate civil war, 
and, consequently, to precipitate the border States out 
of the Union. The constant cry was, War ! war ! war! 
The whole country expected war. War was in the 
minds, in the hearts., in the feelings, in the mouths, and 
on the tongues, of all. In parlors, dining-rooms, 
kitchens, hotels, livery-stables, barber-shops, cars, 
steamboats, on the highways, by-ways, in the hedges, 
in pulpits, on rostrums, by day and by night, at home 
and abroad, at all times, in all places, everywhere, and 
under all circumstances, the constant theme was war ! 
warl war! Well, war hasn't come yet. Lincoln 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 221 

hasn't caught any one yet! The Black Republican 
armies haven't come down like 'Hessians' upon us 
yet, nor do we now believe that there is any danger 
of an attempt being made to do it. Should the attempt 
be made, however, we are willing to pledge our life 
that the Union men of Virginia will be among the 
first and foremost to meet and give them battle and 
repel and drive them back to their hiding-holes. 

"The Union men of Virginia are true to the Con- 
stitution as it was left to them by their fathers. They 
are true to the 'Stars and Stripes;' they are true to 
their whole country. But, if revolution must come, 
and civil war cannot be honorably avoided, then they 
will fight for their rights, and, with the ' Stars and 
Stripes' proudly waving over their heads, they will 
fight bravely, and die, covered with glory and honor 
imperishable, on old Virginia's soil, and, as their names 
shall be handed down to posterity, their children and 
children's children shall rise up and call them blessed." 

"A NEW POLITICAL MOVE." 

"The 'Richmond Whig' publishes the following cir- 
cular, copies of which, it states, have been sent in large 
numbers to the country, and asks, 'What does it 
mean ?' 

"Richmond, Va., 186L 

"Your presence is particularly requested at Rich- 
mond, on the day of , to consult with the 

friends of Southern Rights as to the course which Vir- 
ginia should pursue in the present emergency. Please 
bring with you, or send, a full delegation of true and 

19* 



222 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

reliable men from your own county; and, if convenient, 
aid the same object in the surrounding counties. 

"On arriving at Richmond, report yourself and 

companions immediately to , at . 

["Signed] 

" Samuel Woods, of Barbour. 
John R. Chambliss, of Greenville. 
Charles F. Collier, of Petersburg. 
John A. Harman, of Augusta. 
H. A. Wise, of Princess Anne. 
John T. Anderson, of Botetourt. 
Wm. F. Gordon, of Albemarle. 
Thos. Jefferson Randolph, of Albemarle. 
James W. Sheffey, of Smythe. 

" Rather suspicious! We fear the Trojan horse! 
Why not let all the sovereign people know what this 
great gathering in the city of Richmond means? Why 
call for 'a full delegation of true and reliable men 
from your own county' ? For what are all these full 
and reliable delegations wanted ? Why rendezvous at 
Richmond, and that, too, during the session of the 
convention? What kind of aid is to be extended to 
the surrounding counties ? And who are the false and 
unreliable men at home ? ' True and reliable men' 
are called for, — which necessarily supposes that the con- 
eocters of this circular think that there are men who 
are not 'true and reliable.' ' True' as to what ? 'Re- 
liable' as to what? Such circulars, at such times as 
the present, augur no good, we fear to our country. 
Look at it! Think of it!" 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 223' 



THE CHRISTIAN'S BIBLE AND THE AMERICAN CONSTI- 
TUTION. 

" Infidels have scorned the Bible ; and thousands now 
treat it with contempt; but what harm has it ever 
done them ? Suppose they should gain the ascendency : 
would it be safe, would it be wise, for Christians, 
although in a minority, to declaim against the Bible, 
and cry, ' Down with it ! down with it ! down with the 
accursed book!' simply because infidels are in the 
majority? What Christian will say so? 

" The Bible is understood and interpreted differently, 
in many parts, by every religious denomination in 
Christendom. What then? Shall the pedobaptist 
say, 'Because the Baptists do not understand and 
interpret the Bible as we do, and seeing that they do 
not regard us as being their equals as constituted 
members of the Church of Jesus Christ, not regard- 
ing us as being worthy to participate with them in 
the holy communion of the Lord's Supper, therefore 
we will dissolve every religious, social, and political 
tie which has hitherto bound us together, and separate 
ourselves entirely and forever from them, and abandon 
the old Bible, about the true and correct interpretation 
of which there has been so much contention, and we 
will fix up a Bible of our own, and go to heaven in our 
own way, and let the Baptists and the old Bible all go 
to perdition'? Would such a course of conduct be 
wise? Would it be safe? Would it be politic? No, 
it would not; and no Christian would say it would 
be. Because Baptists say that pedobaptists are not 
their equals, does that make them inferior to the 



224 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Baptists in any respect? By no means; and no man 
of sense believes that it does. 

" Every religious denomination of professing Chris- 
tians interpret the Bible according to their professed 
understanding of the doctrines and principles which it 
contains. They all admit, however, that it is a good 
and great book, — a book of divine origin, the book 
of God's revealed will to man., — that it will direct all 
true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to the kingdom 
of endless felicity. No sensible man, much less a 
Christian, will reject the Bible because others do not 
understand it precisely as he does himself. 

" In regard to the Constitution of the United States. 
What harm has it ever done any American citizen? 
What true patriot can find fault with it, or feel in his 
heart a wish, a fixed desire, to annihilate it? Has it 
not proved a blessing to us all, and to the whole 
nation? Who can produce a better? Where can a 
better be found ? ' But there are those who give it 
misconstructions, and are not willing that all the 
citizens of these United States shall receive and enjoy 
the protection which it guarantees.' Grant it. But 
whose fault is this? The fault is not in the Consti- 
tution. The Constitution remains the same pure and 
holy document as ever. The fault rests with fanatics 
and traitors, who wish to pervert the Constitution and 
wrest it from its true meaning, because it thwarts 
them in their wicked aspirations. 

"What shall be done? Shall we abandon the Consti- 
tution, cut loose from the salutary restraints of all 
law and government, and launch out upon the broad 
ocean of political strife and uncertainty, without chart 
or compass? How shall we shun the dangers of the 



, THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 225 

sea? And, if we escape total wreck and ruin from 
the dangers of the voyage, to what harbor shall we 
be drifted? Shall we abandon a known, tried, posi- 
tive good, and enter upon the wild career of Utopian 
experiments, when our all is at stake? Who but mad- 
men can act so rashly? Shall we join in the cry with 
those who say, * Down with the Constitution ! down with 
the Constitution ! Down, down with the accursed docu- 
ment !' No, this is not the remedy. The cry should 
be, ' Down with the violators, down with the dese- 
crators, of the Constitution !' Had this course been 
pursued with wild fanatics and black-hearted traitors 
thirty or forty years ago, our country would not now 
be cursed with the agitation of the slavery question, 
disunion, revolution, and civil war, as it is and cer- 
tainly will be. And, having borne with the insults of 
fanatics and traitors so long and so patiently, shall we 
now abandon the good old Constitution and the ' Stars 
and Stripes,' and passively yield up all our rights and 
institutions into their hands? Never! Never! "We 
now have the Constitution which our ancestors be- 
queathed unto us : let us cleave unto it until we posi- 
tively know that we have or can obtain a better. We 
still have a country, in which we have all lived pros- 
perously and happy, and may continue to do so through 
life, if we will only do our duty. The ' Star-Spangled 
Banner,' the emblem of untold blessings, social, poli- 
tical, and religious, still waves over our once happy 
country. As yet, all are permitted to worship God 
under their own vine and fig-tree, while none dare to 
molest or make them afraid. Long may those blessings 
be perpetuated unto us and unto our children. ' Long 
live the Eepublic!' " 



226 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"STARTLING CONSIDERATION. 

"The latent causes which can influence American 
citizens to rejoice at the trailing in the dust of the 
'American Flag' is a mystery we cannot fathom, — a 
problem we cannot solve. The ' flag' of our country, 
which was the pride and boast of our fathers, and 
which in the national horizon was a sign to them, and 
to us their children, of security and protection not only 
at home, but abroad, on every sea and in every land, — 
that men can rejoice at its downfall and exult in its 
desecration is to us a startling consideration ! To us it 
appears unnatural, ungrateful, unpatriotic, unchristian, 
unmanly, and wicked in the extreme. To exult over 
a fallen foe is unmanly and cowardly; but to exult 
over the dead body of a fallen parent is so unnatural 
that he who would be guilty of such an act would, by 
general acclamation, deserve to be branded with the 
blackest and basest ingratitude. 

"What harm has the ' American Flag' ever done to 
any American citizen ? Who has ever been injured by 
it? Where is the American citizen living, who can lay 
his hand on his heart, in life, in death, or at the bar of 
his God, and say that the 'American Flag,' the 'Stars 
and Stripes,' have ever done him harm ? Sooner would 
we desecrate a mother's grave than we would desecrate 
the ' Stars and Stripes,' which protected that mother 
from insult and injury while living, and still watches 
over her grave, to drive back the approaching enemy 
and preserve her sacred ashes from the desecrating 
tread of the wicked and profane ! Long may the ' Stars 
and Stripes' proudly wave over all our happy land !" 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 227 



"BUT THERE IS NO UNION NOW. 

"It is said by some that 'there is no Union now.' 
' The Federal Government is broken up, and why talk 
any longer of the Union?' The fact that seven mem- 
bers of a large family, containing thirty-three members, 
may feel that they have been badly treated by other 
members of the family, and resolve on quitting the 
family, and should actually leave, does not by any means 
prove that the family does not still exist. The family, 
in fact, still exists, minus, however, seven of its ori- 
ginal thirty-three members. It, therefore, becomes the 
duty of the remaining members of the family, who re- 
gard the rights of the seven absented members, and 
who feel for and sympathize with them, to force the un- 
ruly and refractory members still remaining in the 
family into subjection and obedience to the rules, regu- 
lations, and government of the family, or drive them 
out of the family altogether, and afterwards use their 
influence to get the absent, injured members to return 
and all live as one great, harmonious family again. If, 
however, the members who had previously left the family 
circle find it to their interest to remain separate and 
independent to themselves, without serious detriment 
to the interests of the great original family, let them 
continue in peace and quietness. Use no arbitrary 
means to force them back again. 

"The American people inhabiting the thirty-three 
States of this Union constituted one great family. Fif- 
teen States of this great national family feel and com- 
plain that they have been badly treated by other mem- 
bers composing this great family, and seven have se- 
ceded. Now let the good law-abiding members of the 



228 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

twenty-six States still remaining say to these refrac- 
tory members of the great national family, You must in 
all coming time behave yourselves, and submit to the 
constituted authorities of this great American family, 
or, otherwise, we will inflict the penalties annexed to 
the laws of the Federal Government upon you ; and, if 
this will not answer, you shall not live with us ; we will 
expatriate you : we are not going to leave the family 
ourselves, nor will we allow it to be broken up by you ; 
therefore you must give us satisfactory guarantees for 
your good behavior in all time to come. This being 
done, then let the twenty-six members of the family 
affectionately invite the absent or seceded members to 
return to the embraces of the common brotherhood, 
and all become members again of the one great American 
family. If, however, the seceded members think they 
can live more happily and do better to remain by them- 
selves, and refuse to return, give them the portion of 
the public inheritance which belongs to them, and let 
them remain in peace. All this can and ought to be 
done without war or the shedding of one drop of fra- 
ternal blood. 

"IMMEDIATE, ABSOLUTE, AND ETERNAL SECESSION. 

" If immediate, absolute, and eternal secession be 
the policy of those gentlemen who are candidates for 
office under the Federal Government, how, in the event 
of their election, can they consistently, honestly, and 
conscientiously take the oath to support the laws of 
the Federal Government, which will be administered 
to them on entering into office? It does seem to us that 
this is a grave question, and one which should be duly 
considered both by candidates and voters before they 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 229 

act. How can gentlemen, on entering into office, swear 
upon the Holy Bible that they will observe, respect, and 
protect the laws and Constitution of the Federal Gov- 
ernment, when at the same time they are committed and 
pledged, if possible, to break up the Federal Govern- 
ment? No mental reservation, gentlemen, when you 
are called up to the Holy Bible ! Think of this, 
gentlemen !" 

"HOW IS IT? 

"Men from the North come to Virginia, and some 
of them become so thoroughly _pro-slavery and anti- 
Union that they become rampant, red-hot, immediate, 
absolute, unconditional, and eternal secessionists. This 
being the case, who can say that 'the whole North is 
hopelessly abandoned to niggerism V 

" Many of our Virginia citizens have near and dear 
relations in the North. Some have fathers, mothers, 
brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters in the North. 
Now, let all those rampant, hot-headed secessionists 
who are emigrants from the North set to work and 
see if they cannot enlighten their benighted Northern 
relatives and friends on the subject of African slavery." 

" IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION. 

" Suppose that what is now called the ' Southern Con- 
federacy' should succeed by a meagre majority in getting 
their ' Permanent Constitution' ratified by the people 
of the several Confederate States : would there not be 
a fearful danger of rebellion in this new Confederacy, 
on the part of the large minority, at any time when 
they might feel themselves sufficiently strong to throw 

20 



230 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

off the yoke of oppression, and thus produce revolution 
and civil war among themselves ? We think so. 

" This is a question of the gravest importance, and one 
which is worth the serious consideration of all those 
political leaders who are moving heaven and earth in 
order to precipitate Virginia out of the Union. Mi- 
norities have rights as well as majorities; and those 
rights should be respected; and if majorities refuse to 
do so, the minorities, as soon as they feel the weight 
of oppression, and find, or believe, that they are able 
to throw off the yoke of tyranny which majorities 
have forced upon their necks, will rise up in rebellion 
and assert and defend their rights. 

"If, therefore, Virginia shall ultimately secede, the 
people of the State should have ample time to consider 
the matter well and thoroughly understand the prin- 
ciples on which they secede, and the reasons why they 
secede, and all act in harmony ; otherwise, terrible re- 
sults may grow out of a too hasty flight out of the 
Union. Recent observations convince us how easy it 
is for a people, led on by ambitious, unprincipled poli- 
ticians, to repudiate to-day the acts of yesterday, and 
the acts of to-day they will as readily repudiate to- 
morrow. To-day they will exalt a man to heaven, 
and to-morrow they will doom him to infamy, with- 
out being able to assign a justifiable reason for either 
act. The work of breaking up and overturning one 
system of government to establish another, for the ex- 
press purpose of accommodating and installing poli- 
ticians in office, is a serious business. The results will 
be fearful, — the consequences terrible. Remember what 
we say." 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 231 



REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING. 

"New political move" — We have some important facts 
to state, and some interesting circumstances to lay be- 
fore our readers, in connection with the " new political 
move," and the " circulars" already noticed in the 
above; which, however, we shall reserve for a subse- 
quent chapter. We hope the reader will, in the mean 
time, analyze the " circular" and our remarks on the 
same, that he may be the better prepared for future de- 
velopments which will be unfolded in the progress of 
this work. 

"Hessians." — It was constantly affirmed by secession- 
ists that old Abe Lincoln, Scott & Co. were coming 
down upon us with their Black Republican armies, hav- 
ing a huge "chain," to bind us, hand and foot, and, if 
not to cast us into outer darkness, to make slaves of us 
and of our children forever. On all occasions, the cry 
was, "The Hessians are coming !" "The Hessians are 
coming!" "The vandals of the North will soon be 
upon us!" "The hordes of old Lincoln are coming to 
ravage the whole South, and especially Virginia!" 
Thus the country was kept in a state of continual 
excitement, and terror seized the people, and espe- 
cially the females, all over the country. We had 
come to the conclusion, however, that secessionists 
would commence the war before President Lincoln, 
and thus save him the trouble, and the Government 
the mortification, of inaugurating civil war. In this 
we were not deceived. 

" Candidates for office." — In alluding to candidates for 
office under the Federal Government, we had reference 
to the candidates in Virginia for the Congress of the 



232 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

United States, and the State Senate. Virginia had not 
seceded, and yet these candidates said that if they were 
elected, they would serve in either Congress; that if 
Virginia seceded and joined the Southern Confederacy, 
they would serve in the Southern Congress, but, if 
Virginia did not secede, they would serve in the Con- 
gress of the United States. 

Ex-Governor Smith had announced himself a candi- 
date for re-election to Congress, at Spottsylvania Court- 
House, on the first Monday in April, and was on an 
electioneering tour through the district at the time we 
wrote the following brief paragraph, which appeared 
in the number of the " Christian Banner" of April 
4, 1861 :— 

" Ex-Governor Smith is a candidate for re-election to 
Congress ; and as the ' Virginia (Alexandria) Sentinel' and 
the ' Virginia (Fredericksburg) Herald' have buried the 
political tomahawk, and now stand shoulder to shoulder 
on the rickety platform of immediate secession, Ex- 
Governor Smith will, as a matter of course, receive the 
hearty and cordial support of both these journals ; and 
it may, therefore, be reasonably inferred that his elec- 
tion is sure. Well may it be said that ' Extra Billy is 
hard to beat.' " 

Governor Smith had no opponent more violent in his 
whole district than the 'Virginia Herald,' up to the 
time that that journal turned over to Breckinridge loco- 
foco treason,— and no friend more devoted to his poli- 
tical interest than the *' Virginia Sentinel.' No two 
journals could have been more antagonistic politically 
than were the ' Herald and Sentinel' before the question 
of secession and the dissolution of the Union became 
popular. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 233 

We had always been a warm personal and political 
friend of Governor Smith, and therefore the more 
deeply regretted the course he pursued in relation to 
the immediate and unconditional secession of Virginia. 
It will be remembered that Governor Smith was a 
Breckinridge Democrat, — a strong supporter of that 
party, — a strenuous advocate for the immediate seces- 
sion of Virginia, and a violent opposer of the present 
Administration. But still, if Virginia did* not secede, 
and if he were re-elected, he would serve in the Con- 
gress of the United States. So, likewise, with all the 
Breckinridge candidates in the State of Virginia. Hence 
the question arose in our mind, "How can gentlemen, 
on entering into office, swear, upon the Holy Bible, that 
they will observe, respect, and protect the laws of the 
Federal Government, when at the same time they are 
committed and pledged, if possible, to break up the 
Government ?" To our mind there did appear to be 
some difficulty in this matter, although to others it 
might, and we suppose did, seem different. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

EVERYBODY IN A FOG STAMPEDE — RAISING SECESSION 

FLAGS — PETITION OF R. THOM, ESQ., FOR POST-OFFICE — 

WHAT THEN? — LET THE NORTH AND SOUTH BE HEARD 

SECESSION CONVENTION. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of April 
11, 1861, we wrote and published the following 
articles : — 

20* 



234 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



"EVERYBODY IN A FOG. 

"Yes, everybody is in a fog, and everybody is 
likely to remain so. All is rumor, conjecture, surmise, 
predictions. It is said, thought of, talked of, ru- 
mored, in certain circles of the knowing ones. It is 
now sure, almost certain, confidently believed. No 
doubt war has commenced ! will begin, must begin ! 
it can't be helped. Charleston has made, will make, 
would make, should make, must make, an attack on 
Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is, will be, shall be, might 
be, may be, must be, could be, — positively it is, 
may, can, might, could, would, should, and shall be 
evacuated ! 

" Major Anderson is, has been, or is certainly going 
to be ordered away from Fort Sumter ; now has, or 
has had, or is going to have, all supplies cut off from 
Charleston. Fort Pickens has been, will be, must be, 
shall be reinforced; and then war, blood, and thunder, 
commingled with cannon-shot and lightning, will 
deafen, crimson, and illuminate all the beautiful plains 
of the ' sunny South.' 

" Messrs. Lincoln, Scott, Holt & Co. are gathering 
together millions of Black Republicans, and are making 
grand military preparations to march down South to 
take all the 'people's negroes' from them. Already has 
Lincoln placed ' his big broad iron heel of despotism on 
Virginia's neck,' and has nearly gotten her chained, 
clinched, screwed on tight and fast to his horrible 
Black Republican, Abolition car. Pictures are now 
being bandied about representing seven States running 
for life, with lightning-speed, to get out of ' old Abe's 
clutches,' while Virginia is represented standing with 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 235 

a huge lock-chain thrown around her neck, and ' old 
Abe's' great big paw hoisted over her head ready to 
pounce down upon her. ' Eun, Virginia ! run, Vir- 
ginia, run!' like a rat from a cat, or 'old Abe' will 
harness you ! Is this manly, brave, heroic ? Is this 
the kind of reason, argument, and logic to frighten 
freemen into abject submission ? Has Virginia become 
reduced so low in the scale of degradation as to forget 
and utterly ignore all her former greatness and glory, 
to become frightened with pictorial representations of 
rats running from cats, and the ludicrous representa- 
tion of the rattling of 'old Abe's' despotic Abolition 
chain? Can a nation of brave men and freemen be 
awed into submission by ludicrous pictures, scare- 
crows, raw-heads and bloody-bones? Alas for the 
fallen greatness and departed glory of a once honored 
and powerful nation ! 

" Virginia, to her honor be it said, has not yet taken 
up the line of march. Let her stand firm, and speak 
out in unmistakable language to President Lincoln, that, 
if he wants her slaves, he must ' come and take them' ! 
Then every true heart and strong arm of Virginia's 
sons would become a Thermopylae. If Virginia will 
only stand firm in this trying crisis, imperishable 
glory will crown her mighty efforts, and posterity will 
do her homage through all coming time. Virginia 
can drive away the fog and cause the true light once 
more to shine. May she never falter, tire, nor become 
weary in well-doing. As yet all is rumor, conjecture, 
and guess-work. No one can rightly divine the imme- 
diate or ultimate destiny of our once prosperous, 
peaceful, happy, honored, and glorious country." 



236 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



" STAMPEDE. 

" Keader, do you know what this big word ' stam- 
pede' means ? You can't find it in any of your little 
dictionaries. It's a big word, and is only found in big 
dictionaries, and belongs to big folks ! In Webster's 
big dictionary it has the following meaning : — ' In the 
Western States, a sudden fright, seizing upon large 
bodies of cattle or horses in droves or encampments on 
prairies, and leading them to run for many miles, until 
they often sink down or die under their terrors.' 

" This word has recently been transferred from large 
bodies of cattle and horses to large bodies of negro- 
owners, who, it is said, are threatened with a stampede 
terror, and will actually run away from Virginia and 
never stop in their flight until they sink down away 
in the safe, sunny plains of the far distant South, un- 
less Virginia also becomes frightened and secedes and 
runs away down South too : in which event they 
promise to stay in Virginia and all go down South to- 
gether. That will be nice : won't it, now ? 

" What does all this mean but a threat to those citi- 
zens of Virginia who, in the event of danger, are not 
able to enter upon this stampede ? It simply means 
this : unless those men in Virginia who are now opposed 
to secession, and who have not the means to gather up 
their goods and chattels and remove South, turn seces- 
sionists and force Virginia out of the Union, they will be 
left to the mercy of their ' Abolition enemies,' to fight 
their own battles and defend their own rights as best 
they can. Does this show that the men who boast 
and threaten stampedes have any fraternal regard for 
their poorer brethren who may be forced of necessity 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 237 

to remain and fight and contend for their rights at 
home on their own native, sacred soil ? No. Is not 
this a daring threat to force men to act contrary to 
their better judgment, conscientious principles, and 
patriotic spirit ? It is. And does it not argue a 
cowardly and submissive spirit in those men who for- 
sake the graves of their ancestors, leave their own 
native soil, and give up their own pleasant homes be- 
cause of an anticipated enemy? Do brave men act 
thus ? No. Will freemen be awed by such arguments 
and threats into servile submission to the treasonable 
will of such men ? We hope not. 

" But suppose they do go. What then ? Will the lovely 
hills and valleys and beautiful plains of Virginia become 
desolate, filled with thorns, briers, and thistles, and be 
abandoned forever ? And will the beautiful cottages 
and splendid mansions of these stampeders become the 
dwelling-places of wild beasts, bats, and owls? No: 
there is not a word of truth in the whole of it. It 
would only hasten the abolition of slavery in Virginia, 
and free labor would take the place of slave labor, and 
Virginia lands would advance two hundred per cent, in 
value. Hence, we argue that men who make such 
threats are, in fact, the real Abolitionists and submis- 
sionists of Virginia, whether they mean it or not. 
Political demagogues make these threats to ' fire up the 
Southern heart,' to force Virginia out of the Union. 
What do you think of that, reader ?" 

"RAISING SECESSION FLAGS. 
" The raising of secession flags, and all the sensation 
speeches, and telegraph-despatches, and abominable 
exaggerations and frauds which are being practised upon 



238 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the people are no signs of permanent and general secession 
views entertained by the people. Politicians may rave, 
rant, and try to ' fire up the hearts' of the people, but, 
as certainly as the sun shines in the heavens, a reaction 
will take place. It can't be otherwise. And then woe 
be unto those who have ambitiously and blindly led 
the people on to ruin." 

"PETITION OF REUBEN THOM, ESQ., FOR THE POST- 
OFFICE. 

" We learn that a petition is being circulated through 
the town of Fredericksburg to obtain signatures to send 
to the President of these United States, requesting 
him to retain in office Reuben Thom, Esq., who is now 
postmaster of the Fredericksburg post-office. We 
have not had the pleasure of either seeing or signing 
the petition, though we may yet have the gratification 
of both seeing and signing it. We sincerely hope that 
Mr. Thom may be retained in office : first, because he 
is emphatically a good man ; secondly, because he is an 
old man; thirdly, because he is a responsible and a 
reliable man ; fourthly, because he faithfully discharges 
the duties connected with his office. 

" We are decidedly in favor of his being retained in 
office, because we are a Union man, and desire to see 
the offices of Government judiciously distributed among 
citizens of different political sentiments. We desire it, 
because we wish to see President Lincoln rising supe- 
rior to these little, petty, political prejudices which 
influence little minds, and, in the magnanimity of his 
soul, showing himself superior to party distinctions and 
influences. We hope he will be retained in office, be- 
cause we do not think that any one who would seek to 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 239 

get him out of office would be worthy the confidence of 
the people of Fredericksburg." 

Secessionists had sneered at the idea of living under 
the " Lincoln Government," but no sooner is he in- 
stalled into office than secessionists get up petitions to 
be retained in office. "0 consistency, thou art a 
jewel!" 

"WHAT THEN? 

" Suppose that these gentlemen who are candidates 
for the United States Congress should be elected, and 
that subsequently Virginia should secede from the 
Union : what then will these gentlemen do ? Of course 
they will vacate their seats in Congress. What then ? 
They will seek an asylum in the ' Southern Confede- 
racy.' But will they not have to be re-elected ? And 
is it certain, if Virginia secede, that she will join 
the ' Southern Confederacy' ? This will have to be left 
to the vote of the sovereign people ! In any event, we 
think that these secession candidates, who are trying 
to break up the Union and to destroy the Government, 
are in rather an awkward predicament. Eemember, 
then, gentlemen, that if the convention should pass an 
ordinance of secession, this ordinance will be referred 
back to the people for their ratification or rejection. 
Suppose it shall be ratified. The next question is, 
what course will Virginia pursue ? Will she join the 
'Southern Confederacy,' or will she 'set up for herself? 
In any event, we insist on it, these gentlemen will 
be in rather a ludicrous fix. In view of all these facts, 
ought not the Union men of Virginia to be active and 
energetic in their efforts to elect Union men to fill all 



240 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the offices both in the State and the Federal Govern- 
ments ? Then we will have men on whom we can 
confidently rely. Fellow-citizens ; think seriously on 
this question." 

"LET THE PEOPLE, NORTH AND SOUTH, BE HEARD. 

" Let the people, North and South, be heard. Yes, 
let them speak their sentiments fearlessly, honestly, 
and independently of the influence of designing poli- 
ticians, and they will tell a story that will send terror 
and consternation to the hearts of those leaders, both 
North and South, who are trying to overturn and an- 
nihilate the best and purest form of government on 
earth. It is a shame and an awful sin for the people 
to allow a few aspiring demagogues and rotten-hearted 
politicians to break up the Government and ruin the 
whole country." 

"SECESSION CONVENTION. 

"What does this secession convention, which is to 
meet in the city of Eichmond on the 16th instant, 
mean ? Does that convention intend to depose Gov- 
ernor Letcher and force Virginia out of the Union 
whether she will or not? This will be a high-handed 
move, and one which every loyal son of Virginia and 
the South ought to repel at every hazard. The people 
of Virginia are not yet prepared to be run over rough- 
shod by tyrants, without lifting their voice against it." 

Such was the character of the editorials of the 
"Christian Banner" of the 11th of April, 1861. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 241 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED — VIRGINIA SACRIFICED. 

In the present chapter we propose to group facts and 
circumstances together, that the reader may more 
clearly understand some of the influences by which 
Virginia was forced out of the Union. 

On the 11th of April, 1861, at the time we published 
the editorials contained in the last chapter, Virginia 
was undulating on the thin surface which covered an 
iniquitous sink of treason, deep, dark, and black as per- 
dition itself. In fact, she had been driven to the lofty 
summit, and stood trembling on the awful precipice of 
ruin, to overlook which maddened the brain and sick- 
ened the heart, while no eye could fathom the terrible 
chasm below, save the omniscient eye of the great God 
of the universe. 

Already had the Virginia Convention been in session 
for nearly two months, having organized about the 13th 
of the preceding February, and up to the 11th of April 
had failed to pass an ordinance of secession. Every 
possible outside pressure had been employed to force 
that body to pass an ordinance of secession, but without 
effect. The importance of deposing Governor Letcher 
and of breaking up the convention was boldly advo- 
cated by the secessionists. They argued that the con- 
vention was too slow in its operations. The people 
(that is, the secessionists) were tired waiting the tardy 
movements of the convention. Hence originated the 

21 



242 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

plot to usurp the power to depose Governor Letcher, to 
break up the convention, and to put others in their 
places who would do the work at once. Hence, also, 
the call for a new, secret, secession convention, com- 
posed of true and reliable Southern-Eights men, to 
take into consideration "the course which Virginia 
should pursue in the present emergency." 

In a former chapter we alluded to a " new political 
move," and promised to notice it more particularly in 
a future chapter. To save the reader the trouble of 
referring to the previous chapter containing the "Cir- 
cular," and our remarks on the same at the time we 
published it, and that he may be the better enabled to 
comprehend the whole scope and design at a single 
glance, we will here give them another insertion. Bead 
the "Circular:" it is pregnant with meaning, especially 
when taken in connection with all the circumstances 
attending the passage of a secession ordinance by the 
Virginia Convention, and the overthrow of the Ee- 
public. 

"A NEW POLITICAL MOVE." 

The "Richmond Whig" publishes the following cir- 
cular, copies of which, it states, have been sent in large 
numbers to the country, and asks, "What does it 
mean?" 

"Circular. 

''Richmond, Va., 1861. 

"Your presence is particularly requested at Rich- 
mond, on the day of , to consult with the 

friends of Southern Eights as to the course which Vir- 
ginia should pursue in the present emergency. Please 
bring with you, or send, a full delegation of true and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 243 

reliable men from your own county; and, if convenient, 
aid the same object in the surrounding counties. 

"On arriving at Richmond, report yourself and com- 
panions immediately to , at 

" [Signed.] 

"Samuel Woods, of Barbour. 
John R. Chambliss, of Greenville. 
Charles F. Collier, of Petersburg. 
John A. Harman, of Augusta. 
H. A. Wise, of Princess Anne. 
John T. Anderson, of Botetourt. 
Wm. F. Gordon, of Albemarle. 
Thos. Jefferson Bandolph, of Albemarle. 
James W. Sheffey, of Smythe." 

There, reader, is the "Circular;" and to show our 
opinion of it, and our suspicion of the design of the 
concocters of the circular at the time we published it, 
we will here insert our remarks on the subject, so that 
the whole matter may appear in connection : — 

"Rather suspicious! We fear the Trojan horse! 
Why not let all the sovereign people know what this 
great gathering in the city of Richmond means? For 
what are all these full and reliable delegations wanted? 
Why rendezvous at Richmond, and that, too, during 
the session of the convention? What kind of aid is to 
be extended to the surrounding counties? And who 
are the false and unreliable men at home ? ' True and 
reliable men' are called for, — which necessarily sup- 
poses that the concocters of the circular thought that 
there are men who are not true and reliable. ' True' 
as to what? and 'reliable' as to what? Such 
circulars, at such times as the present, augur no 



244 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

good, we fear, to our country. Look at it! Think 
of it !" 

A volume is here unfolded for the serious contempla- 
tion of the reader, which presents a picture of one of 
the blackest plots of damnable treason to be found in 
the records of the world's history! Why were " large 
numbers" of these infamous circulars sent to the 
country ? 

To what class of persons were they sent ? Not to 
" Union-shriekers, submissionists, and traitors," but 
to "true and reliable men," who were sworn, no 
doubt, to exert every influence and power within their 
reach to force Virginia out of the Union, and, conse- 
quently, to effect the overthrow of the Federal Govern- 
ment. 

Why was the time of holding this treasonable con- 
vention left blank ? Were the traitors afraid that there 
would be a ground-swell of Union men then and there, 
who might upset the whole conspiracy ? 

Why were the names of the persons to whom these 
country traitors were to report themselves " and com- 
panions immediately on arriving at Eichmond" left 
blank ? Were they afraid that the " submissionists to 
old Abe Lincoln" might stealthily get into the secrets 
of their infernal machinations, and report them to the 
loyal authorities at Eichmond? 

Why did they leave the place at which these " true 
and reliable men" and their "companions" were to 
rendezvous blank ? Were they afraid that some who 
belonged to the "tail-end of the Northern Confede- 
racy" would linger in disguise about the place at which 
they were to report themselves and "companions," and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 245 

learn something of their diabolical plot, and thus break 
up the conspiracy? 

Whom did they mean by "friends of Southern 
Bights," but simon-pure secessionists, "true and reli- 
able men," who had been baptized, head and heels, soul 
and body, in the sm&-pool of Breckinridge locofoco 
treason ? 

Why did they wish "to consult as to the course 
which Virginia should pursue in the present emer- 
gency" ? Were not the members of the Virginia Con- 
vention, who had been elected by the popular vote of 
the citizens of the State, at that very time in consulta- 
tion "as to the course which Virginia should pursue in 
the present emergency"? 

Why this deep and earnest solicitude for full delega- 
tions, but to be able to usurp the authority, depose 
Governor Letcher, burst up and annihilate the Virginia 
Convention, organize themselves into a self -created body, 
vote themselves the State of Virginia, as the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia had already set them the example, and 
force an ordinance of secession upon the people of Vir- 
ginia, in the event that they should fail to force the 
Virginia Convention to do it for them ? 

" Please bring with you, or send, a full delegation." 
Under the circumstances, could language be more sig- 
nificant ? At the time these treasonable circulars 
were being sent all through the "country," an over- 
whelming majority of the members of the Virginia Con- 
vention were Union men. Governor Letcher himself was 
reported as being a Union man. And there were thou- 
sands of the citizens of Bichmond Union men, and a 
majority of them would have remained loyal to Virginia 
and to the Federal Government to this day, no doubt, 

21* 



246 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

had it not been for this treasonable secession conven- 
tion, and the circumstances connected with it, all of 
which hurried and forced the Virginia Convention to 
commit the suicidal act. In view of the strong Union 
feeling which still burned in the bosoms of the mem- 
bers of the convention and the citizens of Eichmond, 
it was important and absolutely necessary that full 
delegations "of true and reliable men" should be 
sent from all the counties in Virginia. As if they had 
said, " We expect hot work in Eichmond on the blank 
day of the blank month; that is, on the 16th day of 
April, 1861, we shall in all probability meet with 
and have to contend against powerful influences and 
forces: therefore, please bring with you, or send, full 
delegations of true and reliable men from your own 
county, and, if convenient, aid the same object in the 
surrounding counties." 

We again ask, what kind of aid was to be extended 
to the accomplices in treason "in the surrounding 
counties" to further on the same nefarious object of 
sending traitors to Eichmond ? Were they to be aided 
with clothing, transportation, money to pay their ex- 
penses, and munitions of war to enable them effectively 
and effectually to consummate their infernal plot of 
treason against the commonwealth of Virginia, and, 
consequently, against the Government of the United 
States? 

Look, also, at the localities, standing, and position 
of the men whose signatures are affixed to these trea- 
sonable circulars, which were sent in great numbers all 
through the country ! Had not the Hon. Henry A. 
Wise for several months previous been actively en- 
gaged in getting up a "legion" of "minute-men," after- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 247 

wards known as the "Wise legion?" Was it not in 
contemplation that these "true and reliable men," 
thoroughly armed as they were, should be on hand at 
this great secret secession convention ? Who can 
doubt it ? Was not Henry A. Wise the very man to 
head and lead on an army or mob of locofoco traitors 
to accomplish the diabolical work of breaking up the 
Government, to the end that he in his ungodly ambi- 
tion might usurp the power and become the great 
leading spirit in the Virginia revolution and the man 
in the new Southern Confederacy? 

And where, too, were the "one hundred and twenty 
thousand members of the order of Knights of the 
Golden Circle" ? The Norfolk " Day-Book," early in 
the month of December, 1860, contained the following 
significant paragraph : — 

"The K. G. C.'s and the Slave-Holding States. — 
Colonel V. D. Groner, Knight of the Golden Circle, has 
returned to this city. He has been to Texas, and re- 
turned home via Mississippi. His mission South and 
Southwest was in connection with the order of Knights 
of the Golden Circle. We learn from Colonel Groner 
that there are one hundred and twenty thousand 
members of the order of Knights of the Golden Circle, 
each one of whom is sworn to stand by the South. 
They are fully organized, and are constantly drilling, 
and can be brought into action, if necessary, in two 
weeks' time." 

Here is a conspiracy on a grand scale ! One hun- 
dred and twenty thousand men, " each one of whom is 
sworn to stand by the South;" these men were "con- 
stantly drilling, and could be brought into action in 
two weeks' time." Is it not presumable that these 



248 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

sworn, drilled, and armed men would be on hand at 
this secret secession convention, which was to be com- 
posed of "true and reliable men" ? And does not this 
clearly explain, also, what the framers of that " cir- 
cular" meant by " true and reliable men"? Men who 
had been sworn to " stand by the South," or who had 
been sworn to break up the Government in the event 
that Mr. Lincoln was elected and they themselves were 
defeated ; presuming upon the election of Mr. Lincoln 
as a sufficient reason to justify them in their diabo- 
lical plot to break up the Government, and involve the 
whole country in one common ruin, in the event that 
they could not succeed. In other words, here are one 
hundred and twenty thousand men, who are sworn to 
stand by the " Slave States," or the institution of 
slavery, even if the Republic be annihilated, the country 
steeped in blood, and thousands of helpless women 
made widows and millions of children made orphans ! 
Gracious God ! What a dark volume is here unfolded 
for the contemplation of the reader ! 

But, reader, this is not all. As was subsequently 
ascertained, this secession convention was to meet in 
the city of Kichmond on the 16th day of April, 1861; 
and as soon as we learned the time when this treason- 
able conclave would assemble, we wrote the following 
paragraph, which was published in the number of the 
" Christian Banner" of the 11th of April, 1861, and 
which we republish, that the reader may understand the 
working of this plot, and that it was talked of and 
publicly understood, and by the people of Virginia 
believed to be in contemplation, and of the truth of 
which there can now be no doubt, not even in the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 249 

mind of the most skeptical. The following is the 
paragraph : — 

"What does this secession convention, which is to 
meet in the city of Eichmond on the 16th instant, mean? 
Does that convention intend to depose Governor 
Letcher, and force Virginia out of the Union whether 
she will or not ? This will be a high-handed move, and 
one which every loyal son of Virginia and the whole 
South ought to repel, at every hazard. The people 
of Virginia are not yet prepared to be run over 
roughshod by tyrants, without lifting their voice 
against it." 

To effect a collision between the authorities of the 
United States and the "Confederate States of America" 
had become, about this time, the one great mania 
of the leading secessionists of Virginia and of the 
whole South. They said that if a single gun was fired, 
Virginia and all the border States would certainly 
secede, and that immediately. A correspondent of 
the "Richmond Dispatch," writing from Petersburg, 



" Petersburg, April 6. — The excitement here is very 
great, and the ' war' tidings are discussed at every cor- 
ner. The people say, 'Let it come.' The indignation 
of the people at the course of the convention is at a 
high pitch." 

Why was the "indignation of the people" (the seces- 
sionists of Petersburg) "at the course of the conven- 
tion at a high pitch" ? Simply because that conven- 
tion had been in session for nearly two months, and 
had failed to pass an ordinance of secession. For the 
sake of precipitating Virginia out of the Union, the 



250 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

secessionists of Petersburg said, "Let it (war) come." 
This shows the uncompromising determination of the 
secessionists of Virginia to secede, at the time of which 
we are writing. 

A correspondent, writing from Goldsboro', North 
Carolina, to the Eichmond " Dispatch," under date of 
April 6, says, — 

" Goldsboro', N.C., April 6. — The news of outfitting 
the fleet and army at the North is very exciting, and 
the community wish to hear of an attack on Fort 
Sumter. The military are ready to assist the Southern 
Confederacy." 

Why did the " community" (that is, the secession- 
ists) in the town of Goldsboro' wish to hear of an at- 
tack on Fort Sumter ? They knew that a collision be- 
tween the Federal and Confederate troops would tend 
very much to the precipitating of Virginia out of 
the Union, and then North Carolina would certainly 
follow. 

A despatch from Charleston, South Carolina, under 
date of April 6, says, — 

" Charleston, April 6. — We are by no means disap- 
pointed at the news, and are now ready to receive our 
enemies, come as they may. Affairs, however, are 
culminating. All points have been strengthened, and 
we are now ready for any emergency. The ball will 
probably soon open. If the authorities do not soon 
act, the people may take the matter into their own 
hands." 

" Affairs are culminating." They were then ready, 
waiting, and anxious for the command to be given to 
strike a blow at the "flag of the Union," — to com- 
mence the cannonading of Fort Sumter. The impres- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 251 

sion intended to be made by the correspondent, is that 
such was the impatience of the people to have the ball 
opened, that, unless the authorities of the Confederate 
Government should speedily make an attack on Fort 
Sumter, the people would usurp the authority, assume 
the responsibility, and inaugurate civil war themselves. 
The leaders had already usurped the authority and 
power of the Government, and were determined to in- 
augurate civil war, to force the border States out of the 
Union ; and then libelled the people, saying that they — 
the people — had done it, — when, in fact, the people had 
no voice, directly or indirectly, in the whole matter. 
It was, therefore, a libel on the people, from beginning 
to end. The people never usurped the power ; they 
never desired to do it ; and the leaders would not have 
allowed them to do it, even if they had wished. The 
leaders in this accursed rebellion usurped all the power 
from the people, did all the mischief, and then, as a 
sort of panacea for the national, political, social, and 
universal ruin which they inflicted on their country, said, 
to justify themselves, and to make the people still think 
that they held the power, "the sovereign people 
did it all." Yes, the "sovereigns have done it." 
Breckinridge locofocoism is the child of the devil, — the 
spawn of hell, — the enemy of all righteousness, — the 
destroyer of a nation's happiness, — and would, if possi- 
ble, demolish all Governments, human and divine, and 
sink the world in a sea of damnation, to sit on a throne 
of human skulls and shout hosannas to "King Cot- 
ton" and the eternal nigger. Who would not blush 
to utter a whisper in justification of a monster so hide- 
ous, even in the hearing of devils damned I 

In order to provoke and hasten a collision between 



252 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the Federal and Confederate troops, the secessionists at 
Richmond despatched the Hon. Roger A. Pryor to 
Charleston, South Carolina, to "fire up the heart" of 
the authorities there to make an attack on Fort Sum- 
ter before the 16th day of April, the time of the meet- 
ing of the secession convention, — knowing that, if this 
were done, it would be a much easier matter to force 
the Virginia Convention to pass an ordinance of seces- 
sion. What man in all Virginia was better fitted for 
such a mission than Roger A. Pryor ? 

On arriving in Charleston, he publicly addressed the 
people, and by his frequent "bursts of unsurpassed, 
fervent eloquence," he soon set the city in one universal 
blaze of patriotic enthusiasm; and, the citizens en- 
chained, enraptured, and electrified by his eloquent 
addresses, it became an easy matter to influence them 
to determine to commence the work which he desired, 
above all things, they should do. He told a thrilling 
story, — and he told that story well. Said he, "I have 
been asked my opinion relative to the ultimate action 
of the Virginia Convention. I answer, — the final ac- 
tion of the Virginia Convention depends upon a single 
contingency! Do you ask what that contingency is ?" 
significantly pointing in the direction :— " Fire on Fort 
Sumter, and Virginia is with you/" 

The intelligence went with lightning speed to Jeff 
Davis, at Montgomery, Alabama. " What shall we 
do ?" was the question. " Fire on Fort Sumter !" was 
the laconic reply. And be it remembered that on Fri- 
day evening, the 12th day of April, 1861, civil war was 
inaugurated at Charleston, South Carolina, by the au- 
thorities of the "Confederate States" firing on the 
"flag" of the United States of America. The cannon- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 253 

ading was resumed on Saturday morning, the 13th of 
April, 1861, and on that ever-memorable day Fort 
Sumter fell, and was surrendered up to the authorities 
of the " Confederate States of America." The time- 
honored " flag," — the " flag" respected the world over, — 
the "flag" which represented the greatest, most powerful, 
prosperous, and happy nation on earth, — was insulted, 
hauled down, and made to trail in the dust, and a 
little, contemptible secesh flag, the emblem of treason, 
and the embodiment of all folly, madness, and wicked- 
ness, was run up in its stead. And all this was done 
by the people who had been protected by that flag all 
their lives, and their fathers before them. 

The effect of the downfall of Fort Sumter on the 
citizens of Charleston and the South generally may be 
inferred from the following despatches : — 

" [Special despatches to the 'Petersburg (Va.) Express.'] 

"BOMBARDMENT AND CAPTURE OF FORT SUMTER. 

" FIRST DESPATCH. 

" Charleston, April 13. — The flag on Fort Sumter 
is down, and a white one displayed in its place. A 
boat with a white flag is now approaching the city. 
Major Anderson has not fired a gun for four hours. 



" Charleston, April 13. — A terrific explosion has 
just occurred at Fort Sumter. The fire is still raging. 
Anderson has fired only twice in three hours. The 
batteries are pouring it into him. The fleet is still 
lying idle, though plainly in view. They are now 
mounting guns on the battery in the city. Roger A. 

22 



254 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Pryor, in conveying despatches yesterday in an open 
boat, was fired on twice from Fort Sumter, but escaped 
injury. He is busy on duty again to-day. 

" THIRD DESPATCH. 

" Charleston, April 13. — Fort Sumter is ours, God 
and South Carolina be praised ! The surrender is 
unconditional. Engines are now being taken over 
there to extinguish the fire. The bells in the city are 
ringing their joyous peals at the capture of the fort. 
It is said that there is much loss of life at the fort ; but 
I cannot learn the particulars. There has been no loss 
on our side. 

" FOURTH DESPATCH. 

"Charleston, April 13. — The most reliable reports 
from Fort Sumter represent only five men to have been 
wounded, and that slightly. None were killed. It 
has been, in this respect, an extraordinary battle. 
Lieutenant E. K. Meade is certainly unhurt. Pre- 
parations have been made to resist the landing of 
troops upon Morris Island, if it should be attempted 
to-night; but, after the cowardly abandonment of 
Major Anderson, no fears are entertained of any such 
movement. The Confederate troops will take posses- 
sion of Fort Sumter to-night. 

" [To the Associated Press.] 
" FURTHER PARTICULARS. 

" Charleston, April 14. — Negotiations for the sur- 
render of Fort Sumter were completed last night, and 
Major Anderson and his command will evacuate it this 
morning. They will embark in the war-vessel now off 
the bar. When the fort was in flames, and Anderson 



THE SOUTH SACEIFICED. 255 

could only fire at long intervals, the men in the Con- 
federate batteries cheered at every shot, but looked 
defiance at the vessels of war which rode outside the 
bar without attempting to divert the force of a 
single battery. Two of Anderson's men were slightly 
wounded. 

" SECOND DESPATCH. 

" Charleston, April 14. — The steamer Isabel will 
take General Beauregard to Fort Sumter, which Major 
Anderson turns over to the Confederate States. An- 
derson and his men, it is reported, will proceed to New 
York in the steamer Isabel. 

"THIRD DESPATCH. 

"Charleston, April 14. — Fort Sumter has been 
turned over to General Beauregard, and Major Ander- 
son has been allowed to salute his flag. Fifty guns 
were fired from the parapet and casemates. He is em- 
barking on board the ' Isabel,' and will proceed to New 
York. 

"fourth despatch. 

" Charleston, April 14. — A boat is just in from 
Fort Sumter, and brings intelligence that during the 
firing of the salute four of Major Anderson's men were 
mortally wounded by the bursting of two of the guns. 

" Charleston, April 14. — Last night a boat from 
one of the vessels outside communicated with General 
Simmons, in command of Morris Island, bringing the 
request that one of the steamers be allowed to enter the 
port for the purpose of taking away Major Anderson 
and his men. An armistice has been agreed upon, to 
continue until nine o'clock this (Sunday) morning." 



256 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

MAJOR ANDERSON'S OFFICIAL REPORT. 

"Steamship Baltic, off Sandy Hook, 
April 18, 1861, 10.30. a.m., via N.Y. 

"Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four 
hours, until the quarters were entirely burnt, the main 
gates destroyed by fire, the gorge-walls seriously 
injured, the magazine surrounded by flames and its 
door closed from the effects of heat, four barrels and 
three cartridges of powder only being available, and 
no provisions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of 
evacuation offered by General Beauregard, — being the 
same offered by him on the 11th instant, prior to the 
commencement of hostilities, — and marched out of the 
fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors 
flying and drums beating, bringing away company 
and private property, and saluting my flag with fifty 
guns. 

"Robert Anderson, 
Major 1st Artillery, commanding. 

"Hon. Simon Cameron." 

A correspondent writing from Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, under date of April 13, 1861, says, — 

" Montgomery, April 13. — Fort Pickens was rein- 
forced last night. The news of the surrender of Fort 
Sumter has been received with immense cheering. 
The streets are crowded, and the Confederate and Pal- 
metto flags are flying, cannons firing, bells ringing, and 
great rejoicing." 

Such were the jubilant manifestations of secession- 
ists ail over the Southern States at the downfall of the 
American Republic. We might extend our quotations 
ad infinitum ; but it would be useless. How was the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 257 

intelligence of the downfall of Fort Sumter received by 
the secessionists of Virginia ? It was hailed with accla- 
mations of joy everywhere. Taking the town of Frede- 
ricksburg as a tolerably fair specimen of the extrava- 
gances and ridiculous conduct of the secession element 
of the State generally, the reader may form a faint 
idea of what transpired there from the following edi- 
torials which we published in the number of the 
" Christian Banner" of the 18th of April, 1861 :— 

" On last Saturday evening the news of the surren- 
der of Fort Sumter was received by telegraphic de- 
spatch in Fredericksburg, — since which time the greatest 
excitement has prevailed, and it seems to continue 
unabated. 

" On the receipt of the news on Saturday evening, 
several guns were fired, the soldiers paraded the 
streets, several speeches were delivered, many cheers 
were given, and the doleful ' tiger groans' fell upon our 
ear like the deep mutterings of demons coming up from 
the regions of despair. At night bonfires were kindled, 
as if the actors in the drama were eager for light to 
see the downfall of the Republic and the departure of 
a nation's glory ! Such is the progress of American 
civilization, such the character of American patriotism, 
such the character of American Christianity, in this 
enlightened nineteenth century ! 

" Thoughtless children in their infancy, childhood, 
and ignorance may laugh and skip and play while a 
dying mother lingers on the verge of eternity ; but as 
soon as the spirit takes its flight into the deep abyss 
unknown, and the cold, lifeless body is laid low and 
covered up in the deep, dark, silent grave, and the 

22* 



258 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

children find themselves scattered abroad, homeless, 
penniless, and friendless, thrown upon the cold charity 
of a heartless world, among unfeeling and unsympa- 
thizing strangers, — then they wake up to the sad and 
startling reality that they have lost a mother, a 
mother's protection, a mother's blessing, and a mother's 
love : no one to feel for and love them as a mother did. 

" In like manner men may make merry now, while our 
blessed country, the mother of us all, is convulsed and 
agonizing in the last throes of existence ; but as soon 
as she sleeps the sleep which knows no waking, we, her 
ungrateful children, will wake up to the sad and thrill- 
ing reality that we have no country, the common nurs- 
ing-mother of us all, no peaceful, quiet home, no 
legacy, no inheritance to bequeath to our children to 
be handed down to posterity. The downfall of our 
country and the inauguration of civil war seem to us 
like the madness of men walking, alive, wide awake, 
into eternity. The thought is terrible beyond concep- 
tion. Angels might weep, and heaven veil herself in 
sackcloth and ashes, at the downfall of a country so 
great and powerful and prosperous as ours. Could 
our own life be substituted as a sacrifice for the salva- 
tion of our blessed country, freely and quickly should 
the sacrifice be made. We ardently trust in God that 
the knell of our country's funeral has not yet been 
sounded. We will still try to hope that she may yet 
be saved. 

" Men who will break up their country, impelled by 
no higher and holier motives than cupidity, ambition, 
lust for honor, office, position, and power, may live in 
history, song 7 and oratory, but they will live only as 
beacons of infamy to all other treasonable, wicked ad- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 259 

venturers through all coming time. Catiline lives, and 
^0 does Benedict Arnold, — but 'tis only in infamy. 
Their names are held in derision, scorn, and contempt 
by all patriots and good men everywhere." 

Let us now return to our investigation of the inci- 
dental circumstances connected with the passage of tho 
ordinance of secession by the Virginia Convention. 
The reader will bear in mind that the attack was made 
on Fort Sumter by the authorities of the Confede- 
rate States, at Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday, 
the 12th day of April, 1861. Simultaneously with the 
attack on Fort Sumter and the inauguration of civil 
war by the Confederate authorities at Charleston, the 
following proclamation was issued by the President of 
the Confederate States of America at Montgomery, 
Alabama : — 



FEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. 

" Whereas, an extraordinary occasion has occurred, 
rendering it necessary and proper that the Congress 
of the Confederate States shall convene, to receive 
and act upon such communications as may be made 
to it on the part of the Executive : 

"Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the 
Confederate States, do issue this my proclamation con- 
voking the Congress of the Confederate States for the 
transaction of business at the Capitol, in the city of 
Montgomery, on the twenty-ninth day of April, at 
twelve o'clock, noon, of that day, of which all who 
shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that 
body are hereby required to take notice. 



260 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" Given under my hand and the seal of the Con- 
[l.s.] federate States, at Montgomery, this twelfth 
day of April, Anno Domini 1861. 

"Jefferson Davis. 
" By the President. 
" K. Toombs, Secretary of State." 

The question naturally forces itself upon the mind 
of the reader, what ' extraordinary occasion' had 'oc- 
curred rendering it necessary and proper' that President 
Davis should issue his proclamation on the 12th day of 
April for the convocation of the Congress of the 
Confederate States on the 29th day of April, 1861? 
Who can fail to discover and detect at a single glance 
the whole scheme devised, and the agencies and means 
to be used, to consummate a conspiracy against the 
commonwealth of Virginia and the Federal Govern- 
ment, black and base as hell f 

President Davis knew, and he knew well, that im- 
portant communications would be received by him, and 
that to make them valid, and at all popular with the 
people, they would have to receive the sanction of 
the Confederate Congress. He knew that an ordi- 
nance of secession would be passed, by which Vir- 
ginia would be forced out of the Union. He knew 
that delegates, or commissioners, would be sent by the 
authorities at Richmond, whoever these authorities 
might be, to tie Virginia on to the Southern Confede- 
racy before the people of Virginia should have time to 
vote upon the action of the convention. He knew that 
Virginia would be literally filled with armed troops 
before the day of election on which the action of the 
Virginia Convention should be ratified or nullified by 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 261 

the popular vote of the State. He knew that the 
people of the State would be forced to vote for the 
ratification of the action of the convention at the 
point of the bayonet. He knew that Richmond would 
be his head- quarters, and he was making his prepara- 
tions to remove there. He knew that Virginia would 
be the great battle-field and the common burial-ground 
of this wicked, cruel, and infernal war. Yes, President 
Davis knew all these things before he issued his pro- 
clamation for the convocation of the Congress of the 
Confederate States. 

The collision between the two governmental author- 
ities was consummated ! The Hon. Roger A. Pry or 
had thoroughly effected the object and design of his 
infernal mission to Charleston, South Carolina. The 
blow was struck at Fort Sumter on the 12th day of 
April, 1861, and on the 13th day of April, 1861, the 
fort was captured and turned over to General Beaure- 
gard by Major Anderson. On Tuesday, the 16th, after 
the downfall of Fort Sumter on Saturday, the 13th 
day of April, the secession convention met in Rich- 
mond. Remember the words, "Fire on Fort Sumter, 
and Virginia is with you!" Pryor had told the au- 
thorities at Charleston that unless a collision between 
the troops of the Federal and Confederate Govern- 
ments could be effected, the Virginia Convention would 
never pass an ordinance of secession. We wish the 
reader especially to bear in mind that on Saturday, 
the 13th day of April, 1861, Fort Sumter fell; that 
on Tuesday, the 16th day of April, 1861, the secession 
convention met in the city of Richmond, Virginia; that 
on Wednesday, the 17th day of April, 1861, the Vir- 
ginia Convention went into secret session; and that on 



262 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Thursday, the 18th day of April, Anno Domini 1861, 
the Virginia Convention, in secret session, passed and 
forced upon the people of the State of Virginia an 
ordinance of secession, by which the State of Virginia- 
was declared out of the Union. Virginia was doomed, 
— sacrificed on the altar of a set of ungodly, ambitious 
demagogues and traitors ! 

As further evidence that it was a part of the pro- 
gramme of the traitors of Virginia, in order to fully 
consummate their damnable plot of treason against the 
•State, to invite Jeff Davis and his armed troops into 
the State for the purpose of awing the people on the 
day of election into the ratification of the action of the 
Virginia Convention, we submit the following corres- 
pondence to the Richmond papers. 

" Montgomery, April 16. — General Pillow has just 
arrived with an offer to President Davis of a division 
of Tennessee troops. 

" Everybody is delighted with the encouraging news 
from Virginia. 

"The Cabinet here will wait for Lincoln's proclama- 
tion before taking further action. 

" Should Virginia unite with us, President Davis 
will vacate his seat at Montgomery, and Stephens will 
assume its duties. Davis will then make Richmond his 
head-quarters within ten days. Beauregard will be 
second in command. Bragg can take care of Pen- 
sacola. 

"The Cabinet read Lincoln's proclamation amidst 
bursts of laughter. 

" The Secretary of War authorizes the statement that 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 263 

thirty-two thousand more troops will be called out to- 
day to meet Lincoln's men." 

On the above correspondence we made the following 
remarks, which were published in the number of the 
" Christian Banner" of April 18, 1861 :— 

"Civil war is inaugurated, and Richmond is to be 
the head-quarters of President Davis. Why is the 
seat of war transferred from the Gulf States to Vir- 
ginia? Has not Virginia used every effort to avert a 
civil war and to save, if possible, the whole country 
from ruin? Why, then, make Richmond the head- 
quarters of a long-protracted civil war, and Virginia 
the common battle-ground? Such would be the state 
of universal excitement that business of all kinds, 
in towns and cities, would be brought to a perfect 
stand-still, and all agricultural and farming operations 
would, of necessity, become to a very alarming extent 
neglected. A long-protracted civil war would devas- 
tate Virginia and reduce her to a state of complete 
desolation. It is horrible to think of, much less to 
realize. 

"If the people of Virginia wish to vote themselves 
into a civil war, into a common ruin, — their territory 
into a slaughter-pen of blood and death and all the 
horrors concomitant upon a civil war, — let them go to 
the ballot-box and do it. Does Virginia wish to pre- 
cipitate herself into the gulf of irreparable ruin ? Is 
she prepared for a catastrophe so awfully horrible and 
revolting? Surely not!" 

On the very day the above editorial remarks were 



264 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

published in the "Christian Banner," the ordinance of 
secession was passed in the Virginia Convention and 
forced upon the citizens of the State. One undisturbed 
halo of glory had surrounded the secessionists of 
Fredericksburg from the time they received the news 
of the taking of Fort Sumter up to the time that the 
joyful tidings of the passage of the ordinance of se- 
cession by the Virginia Convention sounded in their 
ears ; and then they became absolutely intolerable. The 
reign of terror then commenced in earnest. Worthless 
men, and little secesh boys who had hardly doffed their 
infant rags, felt fully authorized, being tolerated by 
popular opinion and legally indemnified by the ordi- 
nance of the convention, to offer all kinds of insults 
and indignities to Union men. Immediately it was 
proclaimed publicly on the streets that there was 
no need of an election by the people ; that Virginia 
had seceded; that the members of the convention 
voted unanimously, with the exception of five or six, — 
and two or three of these were absent, and would cer- 
tainly have voted for the ordinance had they been 
present ; that no man would dare to vote in opposition 
to the ratification of the ordinance; that tar and 
feathers and sharp fence-rails would be liberally ap- 
plied to all Union-shriekerSy submissionists, and old 
Lincolnites, who might any longer dare to express an 
opinion favorable to the " hateful old flag of the 
Union" or that the Federal Government should be sus- 
tained. It is absolutely impossible for any one who 
w r as not an eye and ear witness, and who was not a 
subject of the infernal goadings continually inflicted 
on Union men by the silent and open insinuations, 
insults, and indignities of men, women, and children, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 265 

to form any correct idea of the intolerant and vin- 
dictive spirit manifested, and the ridiculous extrava- 
gances to which secessionists, in their treasonable 
madness, were driven. It was hell all over, inside and 
outside. 

With secessionists it was a perfect jubilee, a time 
of great and universal rej oicing, surpassing in extrava- 
gant manifestations of joy and gladness those of the 
children of Israel on their return to Jerusalem after a 
captivity and bondage of seventy years in Babylon. 
Exclamations like the following were heard in all 
directions: — "Thank God, we are free once more!" 
"We have thrown off the iron yoke of old Abe Lin- 
coln!" "Thank God, we are once more a free and 
independent people!" "God and South Carolina be 
praised for the work they have done!" "Thanks be 
to God, we can breathe free and easy now, since we 
have gotten our rights and liberty once more !" " Who 
but fools, submissionists, and traitors to the South, 
would refuse to be freemen, and submit to be tied on to 
the tail-end of a Northern Confederacy of black-hearted 
Abolitionists, and the minions of old Abe Lincoln?" 
&c. &c. 

The ivee lawyers, demagogues, and politicians made 
congratulatory speeches : yes, the little orators swelled, 
raved, ranted, tip-toed, threw back their heads, opened 
their mouths, and at the top of their voices bawled 
out, " Fellow-citizens ! Glorious news from Richmond ! 
The convention has passed an ordinance of secession, 
and Virginia once more is free ! We have rent the 
chains of Black Republican despotism, and dashed them 
from us forever !" Then the crowds would almost 
silence the artillery of heaven with their thundering 

23 



266 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

vociferations of, " Huzza ! huzza ! huzza ! for the con- 
vention!" " Fellow-citizens, we are now a free and 
independent people ! Virginia has declared her sove- 
reignty, and the Old Dominion, the ' Mother of States 
and of Statesmen,' is redeemed ! Not old Abe Lin- 
coln, but Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, is our Presi- 
dent! Jefferson Davis henceforth shall be our leader! 
To his standard we will rally, and under his banner we 
will march ! He will lead the Confederate army in 
triumph to Washington City ! to Baltimore ! to Phila- 
delphia ! to New York ! to Boston ! and will plant the 
Confederate standard and unfurl to the breeze the 
Palmetto flag over the Capitol of every State in Yan- 
keedom!" Then the crowds would shout, " Huzza! 
huzza ! huzza for Jeff Davis !" 

This, reader, is only an imperfect sketch, a faint 
representation, of the ridiculous extravagancies and 
manifestations of despotism over the people perpe- 
trated by secessionists in Eastern Virginia. We were 
an eye and ear witness to the course pursued by them 
in the town of Fredericksburg, and were, moreover, the 
subject of their taunts and ridicule for more than 
twelve long months. We speak what we do know, 
and testify what we have seen, heard, and felt. 

While secessionists in Virginia were manacling the 
people at home, throwing around them the chains of 
political and military despotism, preparing to force 
them to vote for the ratification of the ordinance of 
secession when the day of election should arrive, what 
were Jeff Davis and his accomplices in treason doing 
at Montgomery, Alabama? 

Remember the words of the correspondent writing 
from Montgomery under date of the 16th of April, the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 267 

very day that the secession convention met in Eicb- 
mond: — " Everybody is delighted with the encouraging 
news from Virginia." What news was it from Vir- 
ginia which so much delighted everybody in Mont- 
gomery? The jubilant effect produced upon the seces- 
sionists of Virginia at the collision which had been 
brought about between the Confederate and Federal 
troops, and the downfall of Fort Sumter, and the 
certainty that the Virginia Convention would be 
broken up by an armed mob of secessionists unless 
that convention passed an ordinance of secession, and 
that a self-created body of secessionists would pass an 
ordinance of secession and force Virginia out of the 
Union. In a word, the absolute and unconditional 
certainty that Virginia would be forced out of the 
Union and tied on to the Southern Confederacy by a 
set of political swindlers and traitors caused " every- 
body" in Montgomery to be delighted with the " en- 
couraging news from Virginia." Eemember, like- 
wise, that General Pillow had just arrived with an 
offer to President Davis of a division of Tennessee 
troops ; that, should Virginia unite with the Southern 
Confederacy, President Davis would vacate his seat at 
Montgomery, — -would then make Eichmond his head- 
quarters within ten days; Stephens would assume 
the duties of the vacated seat of Davis at Mont- 
gomery; Beauregard would be second in command; 
Bragg would take care of Pensacola; the Cabinet at 
Montgomery had read Lincoln's proclamation amidst 
bursts of laughter, (quite dignified and patriotic for a 
cabinet of statesmen at the downfall and overthrow 
of their country !) thirty- two thousand more troops 
were to be called out to meet Lincoln's men. Here 



2G8 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

was the whole 'programme laid out and sent to Puch- 
mond two days in advance of the passage of the ordi- 
nance of secession by the Virginia Convention! Was 
ever such villany, trickery, rascality, and damnable 
treason read of, heard of, or thought of, since God 
made the world? As to the secession of Virginia, 
there existed not a doubt in the minds of the members 
of the Cabinet at Montgomery, because they knew that 
if the Virginia Convention could not be forced to pass 
an ordinance of secession, the called convention, com- 
posed entirely of " true and reliable" secessionists, would 
usurp the authority and pass it themselves and force 
Virginia out of the Union. 

A correspondent from Montgomery to the Richmond 
papers, under date of April 30, says, — 

" Montgomery, Ala., April 30. — Sixteen thousand 
good troops have just started for Virginia. The ques- 
tion, whether the Confederate Government will remain 
here or move to Richmond, is now under earnest con- 
sideration, and still pending. I will not undertake to 
state the probabilities of the decision." 

The reader will bear in mind that the ordinance of 
secession was passed in the Virginia Convention on the 
18th day of April, 1861 ; and on the 30th day of April, 
1861, twelve days after the ordinance was passed by 
the convention, " sixteen thousand good troops started" 
from Montgomery, Alabama, " for Virginia ;" and that 
the day of election, on which the citizens of the State 
of Virginia were to vote on the all-important question 
of ratification or no ratification of the action of the 
convention, did not take place until the 23d day of 
May, 1861, being more than one whole month from the 
passage of the ordinance of secession by the convention 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 269 

to the time when the vote was to be taken by the citizens 
of the State ; and this time, too, was given, not that the 
people might coolly and deliberately decide on a ques- 
tion involving the whole of their worldly interests, and 
perhaps, likewise, their eternal destinies, but for the 
purpose of giving time and opportunity to the au- 
thorities of the Confederate States to crowd armed 
troops into Virginia, to be ready to awe the citizens of 
the State into submission on the day of election. We 
ask if this was fair play. Was it not a usurpation of 
authority? Was it not wresting the power from the 
people of Virginia, and placing it in the hands of a few 
petty tyrants, a few infernal traitors ? 

As early as the 5th of May, 1861, the " Lynchburg 
Virginian" said, — 

" Six additional companies of the 3d Regiment of 
Alabama Volunteers arrived in this city about five 
o'clock yesterday morning. The entire regiment is 
now here, together with all its officers, except Colonel 
Withers. Lieutenant-Colonel Lomax arrived with the 
men yesterday." 

Regiments of troops from Texas, Arkansas, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina, ar- 
rived in Fredericksburg early in the month of May, long 
before the day of election. Why were thousands on thou- 
sands of armed troops from all the seceded States hurried 
into Virginia, and stationed in all the important cities, 
towns, and villages, before the people of the State had 
even ^oted on the question of ratification or no ratifi- 
cation ? Why were thousands of armed troops stationed 
at Richmond, Petersburg, Lynchburg, Fredericksburg, 
Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Yorktown, Williams- 
burg, Alexandria, Harper's Ferry, &c. &c. ? Who is 



270 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

so blind and stupid as not to be able to perceive the 
whole design at a single glance ? The design was, to 
awe Virginia at the point of the bayonet into submis- 
sion, on the day of election, to vote for the ratification 
of the ordinance of secession. If five thousand votes 
had not been cast by the citizens of the State, on the 
day of election, for the ratification of the ordinance, still 
Virginia would have been forced out of the Union by 
foreign votes and military forces. Who knows, to 
this day, the number of votes polled on the 23d day of 
May, 1861 ? The official returns, if ever received at 
Richmond, the head-quarters of treason, were never pub- 
lished to the world. Virginia was declared out of the 
Union by a large majority of votes voluntarily given 
by her citizens ; which was, and is, and will forever re- 
main a slander and libel black as hell upon the citizens 
of the State of Virginia. 

When the candidates were elected to the Virginia 
Convention, there was a majority of sixty thousand 
votes cast for the Union, and a large portion of these 
voters were in favor of the Union on the 23d day of 
May, 1861. Men were made to vote the secession 
ticket by force of circumstances, and influences which 
they could not control. Influential secessionists told 
their neighbors that, unless they voted for secession, 
neither they nor their children could ever command 
any standing or position in the country; that they 
would be brought under the ban of public censure, 
and would always be regarded as traitors and tories, 
and would become odious as were the tories and 
traitors of the Revolutionary War ; that their property 
would be confiscated, taken from them and given to the 
Southern Confederacy ; that the damned Yankees 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 271 

would come and take their negroes, if they had any, 
and, if they had none, they would take them, their 
wives and children, and make slaves of them all ; that 
the Yankees would come and insult their wives, out- 
rage their daughters, rob them of all their property, 
and play the devil generally. If they wished to 
frighten the Yankees, make the Federal Government 
"back down," and avoid civil war, "go and vote for 
secession." If they wished to stand fair in society, and 
command respectability in the communities in which 
they might live, "go and vote for secession." If they 
did not wish to be damned to infamy themselves, and 
consign their children to the scorn and contempt of all 
mankind, "go and vote for the ordinance of secession." 
If they wished to keep their snug little farms and com- 
fortable homes, and their little property of whatever 
kind they had collected around them, "go and vote for 
secession." If they wished to keep themselves and 
their children from becoming slaves to old Abe Lincoln, 
"go and vote for secession." If they wished to save 
their wives and daughters from the insults and injuries 
of the vandals of the North, "go and vote for seces- 
sion." If they wished to keep the Yankees from steal- 
ing and taking away their negroes, "go and vote for 
secession." If they wished to permanently establish 
the glorious institution of African slavery, "go and 
vote for secession." If they wished to get rich, edu- 
cate their children, associate with the first families of 
Virginia, roll and shine in splendor in the world, "go 
and vote for secession." If they wished to throw off 
the yoke of serfdom to old Abe Lincoln, and be free- 
men, independent, happy, and prosperous, "go and vote 
for secession." If they wished to live in the Southern 



272 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Confederacy, under the purest, wisest, and best form 
of government in the world and in the greatest country 
on earth, "go and vote for secession." If they wished 
to escape the horrors of civil war, and wanted a peace- 
able separation, "go and vote for secession." If they 
were true and pure Democrats, and wished Democratic 
doctrines to prevail, — and, unless they did prevail, the 
country could not be saved, — "go and vote for seces- 
sion." Unless they had turned traitors to their party, 
and had forsaken the good old Democratic principles 
of their fathers, "go and vote for secession." If they 
wished, or expected, either themselves or their children 
ever to fill any office of wealth or honor, either in the 
civil or military departments in the Southern Confede- 
racy, " go and vote for secession." If they were friends 
to good old Virginia and her noble institutions, "go 
and vote for secession." Unless they intended to turn 
traitors to their native State, the Old Dominion, the 
mother of States and of statesmen, in this her great 
and grand struggle for freedom and independence, "go 
and vote for secession." If they were friends to the 
South and to Southern rights and institutions, "go and 
vote for secession." If they were not traitors, Aboli- 
tionists, and Union-shriekers, "go and vote for seces- 
sion." If they were not submissionists, and did not wish 
to become the vassals of Lincoln's despotism, " go and 
vote for secession." If they were not old Lincolnites, 
and did not want to be tied on to the tail-end of the 
Northern Confederacy, with an old rail-splitter at its 
head, " go and vote for secession." And, finally, if 
they wanted to hold on to all their rights and institu- 
tions, political, religious, social, moral, and domestic, 
real and imaginary, and especially to the institutions of 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 273 

African slavery and Breckinridge locofocoism., which 
two institutions embodied all blessings, human and di- 
vine, past, present, and future, for this world and all 
worlds to come, for all time and through all eternity, 
"then go and vote for secession, like men." 

Such, reader, were some of the influences which were 
brought to bear on the action of the people of Virginia 
prior to the day of election ; in addition to which, bear 
in mind that at least one hundred and fifty thousand 
armed troops from the seceded States were stationed at 
all the important points in Virginia, prepared to awe 
the people into submission. 

And as to the vote in the Virginia Convention, 
we were told that it was unanimous, — there being only 
some five or six members who did not vote for the or- 
dinance of secession ; yet when, subsequently, the in- 
junction of secrecy was removed from the acts of that 
convention, it was ascertained that there were about 
forty-seven members of the convention who never did 
vote for the passage of the ordinance at all. And this 
was another damnable swindle, — a downright imposi- 
tion on the people of Virginia. 

No sooner had the convention forced the passage of 
the ordinance of secession than it set to work to tie 
Virginia forcibly on to the Southern Confederacy; to 
accomplish which, commissioners were appointed by the 
convention and hastened off to Montgomery, to make 
sale of Virginia in the quickest time and on the best 
terms possible. The Kichmond " Examiner" of about 
May 1, 1861, contained the following editorial in rela- 
tion to the delegates who were appointed to the Con- 
gress of the Confederate States : — 



274 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"DELEGATES TO CONGRESS. 

"The convention, on Monday, appointed the follow- 
ing gentlemen delegates to the Congress of the Con- 
federate States : — 

"E. M. T. Hunter, Tide- Water. 

"Wm. C. Kives, Piedmont. 

"Judge Brockenbrough, Valley. 

"Judge Camden, Northwest. 

"W. K. Staples, Southwest. 
"Two of the State's representatives in the Peace 
Conference were elected, — Eives and Brockenbrough, — 
while Mr. Sedden, one of the wisest heads and the most 
patient hearts that Virginia contains, the third mem- 
ber of the Peace Conference not in the convention, was 
nominated and rejected. So, it seems, were Mr. Jen- 
kins and Abdiel, always ' faithful found,' in the north- 
west of the State, and Mr. Bocock on the other side of 
it. In their places the convention chose a Mr. Staples 
and a Mr. Camden. What they are, the convention 
only knows. All we can learn of them is the general 
report that they were microscopic, but very venomous, 
submissionists some time ago. If they now are any 
thing better, we shall be very glad; but at present it 
would appear that this delectable body that continues 
to rule over us, and will long rule over us, has chosen 
for Virginia's embassy to the South three enemies and 
two friends of the Confederacy ; and this will be the 
fitting finis of a session which should be remembered 
as one of the most remarkable chapters of parlia- 
mentary iniquity ever recorded in history." 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 2, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 275 

1861, we published the following editorial remarks on 
the above article of the " Examiner" : — 

" Is it not an alarming usurpation of authority that 
the Virginia Convention should have appointed gentle- 
men to the Congress of the Confederate States at all? 
"Was this the purpose for which the convention was 
called ? We did not so understand it. Is it not an 
alarming usurpation of power that the convention 
should unite the destinies of the Old Dominion with 
the ' Confederate States of America' before the vote of 
the citizens of the State is taken on the question ? 
Are a million of freemen to be bartered and sold, and 
handed over to other authorities, without being con- 
sulted, and without their knowledge or consent, by a 
convention of men elected by the people to transact 
other and different matters? If we understand the 
subject, the convention was called together to decide on 
the policy as to the passage of an ordinance of seces- 
sion or non-secession : after which the action of the 
convention was to be referred back to the sovereign 
people for their ratification or rejection. The whole 
matter is pre-arranged and virtually fixed, and then 
the people are called on to vote for all the questions 
together ! If this be the beginning of our new order 
of things, what will the end be ?" 

Already had the Virginia Convention not only passed 
an ordinance of secession and sent delegates to the 
Congress of the Confederate States, but had actually 

" Resolved, That the President of the Confederate 
States, and the constitutional authorities of the Con- 
federacy, be, and they are hereby, cordially and respect- 
fully invited, whenever in their opinion the public in- 



276 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

terest or convenience may require it, to make the city 
of Eichmond, or some other place in this State, the 
seat of the government of the Confederacy." 

The Eichmond " Examiner" said, — 

" The presence of Jefferson Davis in Eichmond would 
be worth an army of fifty thousand men. He is the 
man for this hour. He would be obeyed. He could 
inspire confidence, and order, and energy everywhere. 
"With others our troops will fight, and perhaps win the 
battle; but with him the victory would be sure, and 
chance certain." 

The reader cannot fail to observe the keen thrust the 
" Examiner" makes at the " very venomous submission- 
ists," and the "three enemies of the Confederacy," 
as also the thrust it makes at the whole convention 
when it says, " This will be the fitting finis of a session 
which should be remembered as one of the most re- 
markable chapters of parliamentary iniquity ever re- 
corded in history." Why this editorial reflection on 
the reputation of Eives, Camden, and Staples ? Simply 
because they were "some time ago very venomous sub- 
missionists," or, in other words, Union men. This, with 
the "Examiner," was sufficient evidence to convict 
them as being enemies of the Confederacy, and which 
should politically damn them to infamy. The " Ex- 
aminer" opposed any one holding office in the Southern 
Confederacy whose antecedents on the question of 
secession were not above suspicion. Hence, also, the 
" Examiner's" reflections on the convention, an over- 
whelming majority of the members of which were 
Union men or " venomous submissionists" up to the 
time of the attack on Fort Sumter. The " Examiner" 
had great faith in Jeff Davis, because he was an original 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 277 

secessionist, and if he would only come to Eichmond 
and issue his mandates " he would be obeyed." His 
" presence in Eichmond would be worth an army of 
fifty thousand men" in subjugating the State of Vir- 
ginia ! Well, Jeff Davis came to Richmond, and 
brought with him his vast army, and had all his troops 
scattered over the State on the day of election, — which, 
however, was nothing more than a mock-election ; for, 
long in advance of the day on which the vote of the 
State was to be taken, the Democratic press of the 
South denounced every man who might dare to vote 
for the Union as being a traitor and an Abolitionist, 
who should be hung or else driven out of the South. 
And if they remained at home on the day of election, 
thus refusing to vote for secession, it would be evidence 
sufficient to convict them of having sympathy for the 
"old detestable Union," and they, too, should be driven 
out of the South, and all their property should be con- 
fiscated. And the Eichmond "Examiner" declared 
that all who " professed recent conversion to secession 
were hypocrites," and of course ought not to be trusted. 

Such, kind reader, were the coercive agencies and 
influences employed to force Virginia out of the Union 
and to utter ruin. Nor was this all. Civil war was 
already inaugurated in Virginia. Gosport Navy- Yard, 
at Norfolk, Virginia, was already seized by the Con- 
federate authorities, and the munitions of war were 
secured in great quantities, while thousands of troops 
were constantly being sent from the South to Norfolk 
and Portsmouth. Eead the following despatches : — 

" Norfolk, April 20, 1861. — The navy-yard was 
fired at one o'clock this morning, and the two ship- 
houses, sail and rigging lofts, and the marine-barracks 

24 



278 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

destroyed, together with the ships 'Pennsylvania,' 
'Columbia,' 'Earitan,' ' German town,' 'Dolphin,' and 
'New York.' 

" Every cannon was spiked," and all the small-arms 
destroyed. Gosport is now in flames. The Federal 
troops have escaped in the 'Cumberland' and 'Pawnee.' 
Three naval officers are under arrest in Norfolk." 

"April 21, 1861.— The ' Pawnee' left this morning 
at four o'clock. She is now at Old Point. The ' Cum- 
berland' could not pass the obstructions. Before leav- 
ing, the infamous scamps fired the navy-yard, and the 
' Pennsylvania' is now in a mass of ruins." 

About this time, also, the following despatch was 
received by Governor Letcher of Virginia, which seemed 
to favor the general impression among the secessionists 
of Virginia that there would be a universal ground- 
swell of the secessionists of Maryland, and that she- 
would be out of the Union and into the Southern Con- 
federacy in the shortest conceivable time, and that the 
insurgents of Maryland and Jeff Davis and his army 
would form a junction in Washington City, depose the 
Government authorities, and take possession of Wash- 
ington. 

" Alexandria, April 22. — Lieutenant Charles Car- 
roll Simms, late of the U. S. Navy, and attached to the 
Navy- Yard at Washington until one o'clock to-day, has 
just arrived here, and reports that reliable information 
has reached Washington that the 7th Eegiment of New 
York was literally cut to pieces this morning, between 
Annapolis and Marlborough, by the Maryland troops. 
"C. E. Stewart, 

" Colonel 175th Regiment! 1 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 279 

The night on which the news was received at the 
Fredericksburg Railroad depot of the destruction of 
Gosport Navy- Yard, and that the 7th Regiment of 
New York was literally cut to pieces, we were present, 
and listened to two enthusiastic speeches which were 
delivered to the crowd at the depot by two rampant, 
original secession orators, who had just arrived from 
Richmond with the "glad tidings." At the close of 
the last speech, after the deafening roar of the loud 
huzzas had partially died away, a fiendish shout was 
raised in the crowd, with the cry, "Where's Major 
Williams ?" " Where's Major Williams ?" " Yes, God 
damn him" was responded, "where is he?" "Where 
is he ?" " Damn him, let's tar-and-feather him and ride 
him on a fence-rail !" Not knowing but that our turn 
would come next, and having left Major Williams in 
our office when we started to the depot to learn the 
news, we hastened back to our office, it being on Main 
Street, only about two squares from the depot, and re- 
ported to the major what had occurred at the depot. 
Being fearful that they might come to our office in 
search of him, in the event they went to his house and 
could not find him at home, as he frequently visited us, 
which was known by many, we proposed to him to 
spend the night with us, which offer he unhesitatingly 
accepted, and, conducting him through a back room 
out of our office and up two flights of stairs, he was 
soon ensconced in a warm bed in our dwelling, and 
thus spent the night. Major Williams was a Union 
man, and was subsequently arrested and confined in 
prison for at least six months, only having received 
his discharge in the month of October, 1862, being 
exchanged for secession prisoners whom the Federal 



280 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

authorities arrested in Fredericksburg and lodged in 
the Old Capitol at Washington City. The major fre- 
quently visited us in Washington City after his release, 
during the time we remained there a refugee; and the 
story he relates of the sufferings of Union citizens 
while in prison is most revolting. We believe his 
report, because we know him to be a man of truth and 
perfectly reliable. 

We state this circumstance that the reader may 
be advised of the violent opposition and vindictive 
feelings which were manifested by secessionists towards 
Union men in Fredericksburg and throughout Virginia 
at least one month in advance of the election for the 
ratification or rejection of the ordinance of secession 
by the citizens of the State. 

In further evidence of the truth of our statements 
in this work, read the following correspondence from 
Lynchburg, Va., which we published in the number 
of the " Christian Banner" of April 25, 1861 :— 



"ANDY JOHNSON SALUTED IN LYNCHBURG. 

" Lynchburg, Va. — Andy Johnson, late United 
States Senator from Tennessee, passed through here to- 
day on his way from Washington to Tennessee. A large 
crowd assembled and groaned him and offered every 
indignity he deserved, — including pulling his nose. 
Every effort was made to take him off the cars. 

" The demonstrations were first suggested by Tennes- 
seeans. Great difficulty was experienced in restraining 
the populace. Johnson was protected by the con- 
ductor and others, who begged that he might be per- 
mitted to proceed home and let his own people deal 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 281 

with him. He denied sending a message asserting 
that Tennessee should furnish her quota of men." 

From the above the reader will discover that even 
United States Senators who were in favor of the 
Union could not pass through the State of Vir- 
ginia to their homes and families in other States 
without being in danger of crowds of armed mobs 
offering every indignity and insult to them, including 
the pulling of their noses. They groaned him; they 
offered every indignity he deserved, including the 
pulling of his nose; every effort was made to take 
him off the cars. Why did Senator Johnson merit 
all this abuse ? Simply because he was a patriot, 
loyal to his country. Why, or for what purpose, 
did they wish to take him off the cars, but to do 
violence to his person ? Be it remembered that Ten- 
nesseeans were the first to make demonstrations of 
every sort of insult and to offer all kinds of indignities 
to United States Senators on Virginia soil. This was 
one of the great designs the Confederate authorities had 
in view in sending troops from other States into Vir- 
ginia, — to make demonstrations of insults and to offer 
indignities to Union men. Why did not the military 
and civil authorities protect Senator Johnson ? Because 
this would, perhaps, have thrown a damper on other 
large crowds, who subsequently might wish to offer 
insults and indignities to Union men. The conductor 
and others begged that he might be permitted to go 
home, and let his own people deal with him. Begged 
that a United States Senator might be permitted! 
permitted to go Koine ! Great God ! Was ever such 
insolence known ? And that, too, in Old Virginia, " the 

24* 



282 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

Mother of States and of Statesmen," and in the town of 
Lynchburg ! And all this damnable despotism was 
acted out in Virginia a month in advance of the vote 
of the people on the action of the convention. 

As we have already said, thousands of armed troops 
were sent from the seceded States to crush Virginia, — 
to force her out of the Union, — to establish a military 
despotism over the people, — to awe them into servile sub- 
mission to the infernal conspiracy of Davis and his band 
of traitors. This was the freedom, the independence, 
of the people of Virginia and of- the whole Southern 
Confederacy. These were the men who denounced the 
despotism of the " Lincoln Government" and the " ty- 
ranny of the old infernal Union." These were the men 
who shouted against coercion, — who boasted of the 
liberty of the press, the liberty of speech, the liberty 
of action, — all of which simply meant that everybody 
had to write, speak, and act precisely in harmony with 
all that the original secessionists wrote, spoke, and did, 
and nothing else; and this was freedom/ Yes, the free- 
dom of slaves, the freedom of serfs, — and the only free- 
dom exercised by the people with impunity within the 
Southern Confederacy since its organization. God 
knows it, and the people in the Southern Confederacy 
know it, and they will tell the thrilling story to the 
world when the time comes. Talk about the "tyranny 
of the North," the "despotism of the Lincoln Govern- 
ment" ! Where is greater despotism to be found this 
side of hell, than that which has been, and now is being, 
exercised over the poor, swindled, down-trodden people 
in the Southern Confederacy? Every vestige of free- 
dom — every right and privilege — have been wrested 
from them, and then these God-forsaken, heaven-daring, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. Zb6 

hell-deserving traitors presume to deliver lectures and 
write essays to and for the dear people, setting forth 
the horrors of the " despotism of the North," — " the 
tyranny of the Lincoln Government/' — " the despotic 
Government of the Old Union" ! Absolutely, men 
who have never been goaded by the curses of secession 
cannot sympathize with those who have. Secession is 
unmistakably the broad road and the wide gate which 
lead to destruction, and thousands there be who go in 
thereat. Secession is the shortest and most direct route 
to hell. 

Positively, secession is the most damnably aggravating 
curse by which mortals can be goaded this side of the 
infernal regions. Secessionists forced the people by the 
most terrible threats of every evil on earth, and that, too, 
at the point of the bayonet, to go and vote for the rati- 
fication of the acts of the Virginia Convention, to the 
end that they might "hit them in the teeth with it" in all 
time to come. The leaders in this rebellion, who forced 
the people to submit to their will and pleasure, and who 
forced Virginia out of the Union, are themselves now 
submitting to the will and pleasure of their own slaves, 
and to many other things, of which they had never 
dreamed when, two years ago, they were anathematizing 
Union men and shouting hosannas to Jeff Davis, " King 
Cotton," and the everlasting "nigger." If they shall 
prove successful in ruining all others and the whole 
country, they themselves will be ruined in the end. 
This is right and just in the sight of all heaven. The 
leaders are the ones on whom the whole curse of this 
war should fall, if it were possible. 

Again, on the 17th day of April, 1861, one day in 
advance of the passage of the ordinance of secession by 



284 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the Virginia Convention, Governor Letcher issued the 
following proclamation : — 



BY THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA— A PROCLAMATION. 

" Whereas, seven of the States formerly composing a 
part of the United States have, by authority of their 
people, solemnly resumed the powers granted by them 
to the United States, and have framed a Constitution and 
organized a Government for themselves, to which the peo- 
ple of thoee States are yielding willing obedience, and have 
so notified the President of the United States by all the 
formalities incident to such action, and thereby become 
to the United States a separate, independent, and foreign 
power; and whereas the Constitution of the United 
States has invested Congress with the sole power " to 
declare war," and, until such declaration is made, the 
President has no authority to call for an extraordinary 
force to wage offensive war against any foreign power; 
and whereas, on the 15th instant, the President of the 
United States, in plain violation of the Constitution, 
issued a proclamation calling for a force of seventy-five 
thousand men to cause the laws of the United States 
to be duly executed over a people who are no longer a 
part of this Union, and, in said proclamation, threatens 
to exert this unusual force to compel obedience to his 
mandate; and whereas the General Assembly of Virginia, 
by a majority approaching to entire unanimity, declared, 
at its last session, that the State of Virginia would con- 
sider such an exertion of force as a virtual declaration 
of war, to be resisted by all the power at the command 
of Virginia, and, subsequently, the convention now in 
session, representing the sovereignty of this State, has 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 285 

reaffirmed, in substance, the same policy, with almost 
equal unanimity; and whereas the State of Virginia 
deeply sympathizes with the Southern States in the 
wrongs they have suffered and the position they have 
assumed, and having made earnest efforts peaceably 
to compromise the differences which have severed the 
Union, and having failed in that attempt, through this 
unwarranted act on the part of the President, and it 
is believed that the influences which operated to pro- 
duce this proclamation against the seceded States will 
be brought to bear upon this commonwealth if she 
should exercise her undoubted right to resume the 
powers granted by her people, and it is due to the honor 
of Virginia that an improper exercise of force against 
her people should be repelled : 

" Therefore, I, John Letcher, Governor of the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia, have thought proper to order 
all volunteer regiments or companies within this State 
forthwith to hold themselves in readiness for immediate 
orders, and, upon the reception of this proclamation, to 
report to the Adjutant-General of the State their organ- 
ization and numbers, and prepare themselves for efficient 
service. Such companies as are not armed and equipped 
will report that fact, that they may be properly supplied. 
" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my 
hand, and caused the seal of the Common- 
[l.s.] wealth to be affixed, this 17th day of April, 
1861, and in the eighty-fifth year of the Com- 
monwealth. John Letcher." 

Did the Constitution of Virginia authorize "the 
General Assembly" of that State to "declare at its 
last session, by a majority approaching to entire unani- 



286 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

mity, that the State of Virginia would consider such 
an exertion of force a virtual declaration of war, to 
be resisted by all the power at the command of Vir- 
ginia? Was this declaration of "the General As- 
sembly" ever brought out squarely and publicly and 
explained to the people of Virginia? Was the vote of 
the sovereign people of the State ever taken on this 
question? And did one-tenth part of the voters 
in the State ever understand this declaration, or even 
know that it had ever been made by the Legisla- 
ture? Why did "the General Assembly" of Virginia 
make this declaration so far in advance of the diffi- 
culties which subsequently were so suddenly sprung 
upon the country, if not to forestall and ignore the in- 
telligence, will, and power of the people? Was not this 
declaration on the part of the General Assembly vir- 
tual secession ? And was it not a direct invitation to 
the Gulf States to secede, and to make Virginia and 
the other border States the battle-ground of this un- 
godly war ? They say to the rebellious States, Secede, 
if you wish, and we will stand between you and the 
authority of the United States Government, and, if 
that Government attempts to enforce the laws, we will 
protect you by resisting the enforcement of the laws 
"by all the power at the command of Virginia:" there 
shall be no coercion. Of what use are the laws of the 
Government if they are not to be observed and en- 
forced? The trickery, treachery, and treason of that 
accursed locofoco General Assembly of Virginia were 
damnable ! 

And by what authority did " the convention now in 
session, representing the sovereignty of this State, re- 
affirm in substance the same policy with almost equal 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 287 

unanimity"? Was this the object for which the con- 
vention was called? No: it was not, nor did the 
people so understand it. Was not the reaffirmation 
of the declaration of the ''General Assembly" by the 
convention virtual secession, and an unqualified invita- 
tion to the Gulf States to secede and make Virginia 
the slaughter-field of this shocking rebellion? The 
convention, in reaffirming the declaration of the " Gene- 
ral Assembly," virtually says to the Gulf States, Secede, 
and we will stand between you and all danger: our 
territory shall become the common battle-ground, and 
we will fight your battles for you. These declarations 
and reaffirmations in time of peace, even had they been, 
submitted to the people, would have passed unnoticed 
and uncared-for by the great majority of them, because 
they did not understand them, nor the design for which 
they were thrust upon them. The object and design 
of the leaders, however, were to get the people fully 
committed on all subjects which would aid them in the 
overthrow of the Republic. 

If there were a majority of the people in Virginia 
"approaching to entire unanimity" in favor of resisting 
the enforcement of the laws of the United States Gov- 
ernment, why did the electors of the Bell and Douglas 
parties take for their motto during the Presidential 
campaign of 1860, "The Union, the Constitution, and 
enforcement of the laws"? And what did the poli- 
tical editors, the advocates of these two parties, mean 
when they headed the columns of their journals with 
the motto, "The Union, the Constitution, and en- 
forcement of the laws"? Did they mean nothing? 

After all, it is evident that the members of these two 
dignified bodies were lamentably deficient either in 



288 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

good sense or true patriotism, or both; and to the 
latter opinion we very strongly incline. 

By what authority did Governor Letcher in his pro- 
clamation affirm that " seven of the States formerly 
composing a part of the United States have, by author- 
ity of their people, solemnly resumed the powers 
granted by them to the United States" ? Did he not 
know that the authority of the people of these States 
had been set aside and totally ignored by the leaders 
of these States? He did. And he knew also that at 
that very time the Legislature and Convention of Vir- 
ginia were trying to wrest all power from the people 
of Virginia. But why elaborate further on this ter- 
ribly black chapter in the political history of Virginia? 
The glory and honor, influence and dignity, power and 
greatness, of the Old Dominion, "the Mother of 
States and of Statesmen," is swiftly passing away. 

The conspiracy is unveiled. Virginia and the whole 
South are sacrificed. Awful is the responsibility of 
the leaders in this wholesale work of ruin and death, 
blood and carnage, and terrible is the retribution which 
awaits them. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 289 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

In the " Banner" of April 25, 1861, we published 
the following editorial :— 

"DIABOLICAL WICKEDNESS. 

" Having for months past anticipated with almost 
prophetic precision the inevitable results in the event 
of ' certain contingencies/ we are in mind prepared to 
meet the very worst that can befall our country and 
our fellow-citizens. 

"We have for more than twelve months been warn- 
ing our countrymen of the awful dangers ahead. The 
subject has borne with terrible weight upon our mind, 
both by day and by night, at home and abroad, in the 
sacred and secret retirements of life, and in the great 
congregation. Hence we are prepared to meet the 
very worst that can now come ; and our constant and 
religious object in writing and conversing on this sub- 
ject as we have done, was, and is, if possible, to so 
influence the actions of our countrymen as to avert 
civil war, and, consequently, all its train of horrors; 
and that, if we should ultimately fail to accomplish this 
object so devoutly wished, we might prepare the minds 
of our readers to look for the horrible calamities which 
must certainly befall them. 

"Having done all that we could do to secure peace 
to our country, we now feel in our heart that we have 
a clear and honest record before Heaven and earth, 
and, having acted faithfully and honestly, are, there- 

25 



290 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

fore ; ready and willing to meet the issue, be that issue 
what it may. 

" This is a war in which every one is individually 
interested to the. extent of his earthly existence. If 
continued, it will result in a war of extermination, as 
we have always predicted. Can it not yet be arrested? 
Shall a nation of Christians be butchered, to gratify 
the unhallowed and unbridled ambition of a few blood- 
thirsty tyrants and despots? Shall innocent females 
and children, aged fathers, and the youth, the young 
men, the flower and hope of our country, fall in one 
common ruin ? What folly ! what madness ! what 
diabolical wickedness /•" 

GENERAL REMARKS. 
The month of April, 1861, will ever be memorable 
in American history as recording the most thrilling 
events which have ever occurred on this great con- 
tinent. In this month thousands of secesh flags were 
"thrown to the breeze" throughout the rebellious 
States; the "Stars and Stripes" were hauled down 
and made to trail in the dust ; civil war was inaugu- 
rated at Charleston, South Carolina, by the Confederate 
troops firing on the "flag of the Union;" Fort Sumter 
was surrendered to the Confederate authorities by 
Major Anderson ; the Virginia Convention passed an 
ordinance of secession, and sent commissioners to 
the Confederate Congress to tie Virginia on to the 
Southern Confederacy; Gosport Navy- Yard and the 
Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., were burned by the 
United States troops, and afterwards seized by the 
Confederate troops ; Andrew Johnson, a United States 
Senator, had his nose pulled by a mob in the town of 



.' THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 291 

Lynchburg, Va. ; thousands of armed soldiers from the 
rebellious States were sent into Virginia and stationed 
at Norfolk and Portsmouth, Hampton and Yorktown, 
Lynchburg and Fredericksburg, Bichmond and Peters- 
burg, Alexandria and Harper's Ferry, Manassas and 
Acquia Creek, &c. &c, to awe the people of Virginia 
into servile submission to the arbitrary will of despots 
and tyrants; the reign of terror commenced, and the 
fate of Virginia was sealed, in April, 1861. Thus was 
Virginia environed on the 23d day of May, 1861, when 
the people of the State were called on, at the points of 
a hundred thousand bayonets, to vote for the ratifica- 
tion of the ordinance of secession which was passed by 
the Virginia Convention on the 18th of April, 1861. 
Thus circumstanced, what were Union men to do, and 
what could they do, but humbly and patiently submit 
and bide their time? 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

THE LAST EDITORIALS OF THE " CHRISTIAN BANNER*' OF 
1861 GENERAL AND CLOSING REMARKS. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 9, 
1861, we published the following editorials : — 

« THE PEOPLE OUGHT TO KNOW. 

" Blow ye the trumpet ! Warn the people of their 
danger ! Cry aloud, and spare not ! Eecreant is he 



292 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

who, when he sees danger approaching, cries, ' Peace, 
peace and safety,' when there is neither peace nor safety, 
but sudden destruction at the door. If there be no 
danger, why, in the name of all that is sacred and 
humane, has our country been kept in a state of such 
unparalleled excitement for nearly six long months ? 
If there be no danger of war, as some affect to believe, 
and if there never has been any danger, as others 
affirm, then we are forced to the conclusion that no age 
or country has ever been cursed with a class of such 
consummate knaves and fools as the political leaders 
in the farcical drama which is now being acted out in 
our wretchedly distracted country. 

" Do the leaders presume upon the ignorance and 
credulity of thirty millions of freemen to effect their 
ambitious schemes to wriggle themselves into office, 
and to hold on to the offices they now fill? — now 
crying out, 'War, war, war!' until they create a sort 
of universal panic, which they keep up sufficiently long 
to accomplish their nefarious designs, and then try- 
ing to allay the excitement and calm the passions of 
the infuriated masses of the people by whispering in 
their ears, ' Peace, peace.' - There will be no war/ 
1 There is no danger of war.' ' We never thought 
there would be any war.' ' All will be settled without 
the shedding of fraternal blood.' ■ This is all unneces- 
sary excitement,' <fce. &c. 

"Are freemen to be made slaves and brutes, to be 
gulled, duped, and led about by knaves whithersoever 
they wish? If there be no danger of war, then the 
leaders in this national, tragical affair justly merit the 
execrations of all good men on earth and all the hosts 
of heaven above. If, however, there be danger, then 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 293 

the people ought to know it, and prepare themselves 
for the threatened calamities which are about to befall 
them. 

" If an enemy designed to fire our house or to take 
our life, would we not be thankful to any one to forewarn 
us of the danger ? Then we could prepare to meet it 
and defend ourself. ' But the people ought not to be 
alarmed. There is no occasion for it.' No, no: 'the 
people ought not to be alarmed : 'tis all nonsense to 
talk about war, and frighten the people for nothing.' 
Ignorance may be bliss when and where there is no 
danger; but it may prove fatal when and where there 
is danger. Then we say to all our readers, there is 
danger, — imminent and immediate danger, — danger at 
any moment and everyivhere. The people both in towns 
and country should be on their watch-towers both by 
day and by night, and every hour and every moment. 
'Tis wicked to act, in such times as the present, like 
silly boys walking in the night, whistling to keep each 
other's spirits up, all the time scared half to death for 
fear of seeing wandering ghosts from the ' spirit-land.' 

" Danger has been forced upon us, and there is no 
concealing the fact any longer ; and it would be un- 
righteous in us, as an editor, to cry, 'Peace and safety,' 
when there is neither peace nor safety. We feel for 
our friends and fellow-citizens ; and, because we do feel 
for them and love them and wish them well, we warn 
them to prepare themselves for coming danger. We 
have for more than twelve long months, and almost 
every week during that time, warned our readers that, 
in the event of * certain contingencies,' ruin, danger, 
and death await us in the future. These contingencies 
are wellnigh consummated; and we now say to one 

25* 



294 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

and all, prepare for the worst. Be not alarmed to 
madness, but to watchfulness, preparation, decision, and 
manly action when the time comes." 

" In the hour of danger, when our enemies are said 
to be near at hand, let every man stand firm to his 
post. No cowardly stampedes and sudden flights from 
danger. Cowards are generally great braggarts, 
making all sorts of 'fuss and splutter' until the 
rumored approach of the enemy, and then they turn 
out to be great runners. For all such dastards we 
have the most supreme contempt. We have heard of 
men being spotted! Ay, we'll see who the brave 
souls are who merit spots ! Brave men never run, — 
cowards, always ! 

" It is an easy matter for a few leaders to get a 
country into difficulties, but a very hard matter to get 
themselves and the country out of difficulties. A 
child can fire a house, which a whole community of 
men may not be able to rescue from the flames. Such 
is the present deplorable state and wretched fate of our 
now ruined, but once grand and magnificent, country. 
A few ambitious leaders have brought ruin upon us all, 
and the people quietly submit. After all that has been 
said of man, godlike man, what is he, but a compound 
of stupidity, treachery, ignorance, knavery, and cow- 
ardice, which are the principal constituents that com- 
pose the theological pill of total depravity I 

"We can scarcely realize the fact that a nation of 
professing Christians are straining every nerve and 
making every possible preparation to cut each other's 
throats and tear out one another's hearts ! Shame ! 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 295 

shame upon the boasted wisdom, philanthropy, patriot- 
ism, and Christianity of the American people ! 

" Reason is dethroned, — a nation is in confusion, — 
and our whole country is being plunged into anarchy 
and ruin. Truly may it be said that we are at our 
wits' end. Our only trust and hope are in God. Let 
us look to him, trusting in his almighty power and 
infinite wisdom and mercy to bring salvation out of 
ruin, and order out of confusion. 

"It is madness and folly for Virginia to provoke a 
collision with the Federal Government. Let all this 
bravado be hushed into silence, and let the people act 
with dignity, system, and determination. 

" When we retrospect the pleasures of past years 
with warm-hearted Christian friends and brethren, 
the many holy privileges we have enjoyed, and now 
think of the present condition of things around us, and 
look into the dark, mysterious future, at the saddening 
and gloomy prospects ahead, our philosophy is well- 
nigh overcome, and we feel that we could weep tears 
of blood, could tears save our country from eternal 
ruin." 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

"Danger at any moment and everywhere." — We feared 
servile insurrections more than all the " army of the 
North." And we feel confident that before the close 
of this war, should it continue two or three years 
longer, the most fearful enemy with which the South- 
ern people will have to contend will be the colored 
population of the South. Scenes, we fear, will be acted 
out which will horrify the souls of the bravest men. 
We tremble at the terrible reflection of what may be 



296 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the fate of thousands of poor, unprotected females. 
While the country is filled with armed troops, the 
slaves are awed into partial obedience. In communi- 
ties, however, where thousands of them have been 
crowded together for " safe-keeping," and the most of 
the white men gone, and as most of them will either 
be killed, or die in the army with disease, then the 
slaves will seize their opportunity and scowl at the 
commands of their rulers, who for the most part will 
be females, boys, and old men ; and then to attempt to 
coerce them into submission will be a fearful and 
hazardous undertaking. And let it be remembered, 
moreover, that the strength of the white men at the 
South is constantly being diminished, while that of the 
black population is constantly on the increase. 

"No danger" — To influence men to enlist for the war, 
secessionists at one time would cry, "War! war! war!" 
and then, again, they would denounce men as "fools" 
and " traitors" who dared to tell them that war was 
inevitable, and that there was danger at any moment 
and everywhere. They would create a panic and keep 
it up sufficiently long to effect their devilish purposes, 
and then try to calm the terrified feelings of the people 
by affirming to them that there would be no war. To 
justify them in their conclusions and assertions that 
there would be no war, they would advance "argu- 
ments" such as the following : — 

"Virginia has seceded;" "The whole South is a 
unit;" "Every border State' will certainly secede;" 
"The old Federal Government will break down" 
"Lincoln has already shown the white feather ;" "The 
Yankee Government will cave in" " The North will be 
forced to grant whatever the Southern Confederacy 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 297 

may demand;" "All that is necessary is for men to 
enlist, and let the North see what an array of armed 
troops can be mustered into service, and then the 
North will become panic-stricken and yield to all the 
demands of the South, and the whole difficulty will be 
settled without any, or but very little, war," &c. &c. 

The game of deception which was practised upon the 
people of Virginia and the South was deep, dark, and 
iniquitous as hell itself. We saw this, and knew'it to 
be the fact : hence the warning character of our edito- 
rials. We had been admonished for weeks either to 
change the character of our editorials, or to discon- 
tinue the publication of the "Banner." We would fre- 
quently prepare editorials with great care, and give 
them to the compositors, and, after being half in type, 
and sometimes entirely so, news would come and cir- 
cumstances would occur which rendered it prudent, 
and absolutely necessary for our own safety, to sup- 
press whole articles. It was a constant practice to 
write and re-write, to change and re-change and alter 
our editorials, as the young men in our office can 
testify. 

We saw and felt that the liberty of the press, the 
liberty of speech, and the rights of freemen were all 
wrested from us, and that the withdrawal of patronage 
would ultimately force us to discontinue the publica- 
tion of the "Banner;" and we determined, after the pub- 
lication of the number of May 9, 1861, to close our 
office. We did so, and dismissed all our hands. We 
left our office with a heavy heart, determined never to 
resume the publication of our paper until the glorious 
" Stars and Stripes" should wave over us, which, we 
confidently hoped, would not be a great while. The 



298 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

reader cannot fail to observe, from the character of our 
editorials, that we grazed the brink of damnation as 
near as possible to escape tumbling in. 

All the other printing-offices in Fredericksburg — 
four in number — continued to do an excellent business, 
as we were informed. On some occasions, as we were 
told, the editors received as much as five hundred dollars 
for one Government advertisement. Sometimes persons 
would tauntingly say to us, "A'n't you sorry you 
stopped your paper ?" "If you had continued the ' Ban- 
ner,' you could now make your jack." " What a pity 
you stopped it!" "Oh, lam so sorry for you!" &c. &c, — 
when, at the same time, their hearts were as destitute 
of true sympathy for us as a cinder thrown heaven- 
high from the bottom of a burning volcano. Oh, what 
an amount of human depravity and damnable hypo- 
crisy secession has developed ! We could not conscien- 
tiously advocate the cause of traitors and treason, and 
we preferred being crushed by them rather than to 
join in with them to help crush our blessed country. 
We were entirely broken up in business of all kinds, 
and preferred to suffer rather than to hold any office 
in the Southern Confederacy, even if we could have 
obtained one by making the application. But such, 
however, were our Union proclivities and objection- 
able antecedents in opposing secession that we presume 
we could not have obtained an office even if we had 
asked for one. Thrown out of business, we remained 
an anxious observer of passing events until the arrival 
of the Union troops and the surrender of Fredericks- 
burg, on the 18th of April, 1862. It was just one 
year from the time the Virginia Convention passed the 
ordinance of secession up to the time the civil authori- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 299 

ties of Fredericksburg surrendered the town to the 
military authorities of the United States. To us it 
was a year of gloom and melancholy, of deep-toned 
sorrow and severe oppression; but it is lost in past 
eternity and gone forever, and may God in mercy 
grant that we may never again realize mental afflic- 
tions so severe ! 

Oh, the horrors of secession! Surely no sane man 
who has ever tasted the bitter fruits of secession will 
advocate an evil so destructive to all the blessings of 
this life and so pernicious to a progress in the divine 
life Dear reader, if you are the least contaminated 
with the ruinous heresy secession, we entreat you as 
one who has experienced its blighting effects and who 
is yet suffering its bitter fruits, to renounce it, and 
abandon the accursed thing forever. Oh, the horrors of 

Sftnfifisinn ! 



secession ! 



The conspiracy is unveiled. The South is sacrificed on 
the unhallowed altar of aspiring demagogues and am- 
bitious tyrants, in a death-struggle for the spoils of 
Government and to establish a permanent negro-oli- 
garchy on the downfall of liberty and the ruin of the 
American Kepublic. But here, reader, we let the curtain 
tall The conspiracy is unveiled: the South is sacri- 
ficed. 



PART II. 



In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 
9, 1862, we wrote the following editorials, which we 
publish as a continuation of the course of the " Banner/' 
and as a historical record of events which transpired 
during the stay of the Federal army in the town of 
Fredericksburg, all of which will, no doubt, be more or 
less interesting to the reader. We shall make such 
notes of explanation from time to time as we may deem 
pertinent and proper. 

CHAPTER I. 

A singular coincidence in the history of the " Chris- 
tian Banner" is, that we suspended the publication of 
it the 9th of May, 1861, and resumed its publication 
on the 9th of May, 1862. The following is a short 
article which we published in the first number, after 
the arrival of the Federal troops in Fredericksburg : — 

"CHRISTIAN BANNER. 

" May 9, 1861, is the date of the last number of the 
'Christian Banner' up to the present time. To-day, 

26 301 



302 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

May 9, 1862 ; — -just one year to a day, — we again unfurl 
its sheet to the breeze. When we closed our office 
twelve months ago, the secession flag — the emblem of 
all folly — was waving over our city. To-day the 
American flag — the 'Stars and Stripes/ the proud 
emblem of a nation's greatness, the flag which our 
fathers won through blood and death, the flag which 
our fathers loved, the flag which all nations honor, 
the flag under which we were born and have lived 
forty-five years save one — now floats proudly over us. 
Long may it wave ' over the land of the free and the 
home of the brave !' May it wave over us, our 
children, our grandchildren, and great-great-grand- 
children, down to the latest posterity, till Gabriel's 
trump shall sound and old Time shall end ! Then 
good-bye, old time-honored flag ! heaven is a better 
place than America. 

"We resume the publication of the 'Christian 
Banner' because we feel it our duty to do all the pos- 
sible good we can for our country and fellow-citizens. 
If we can only accomplish a single mite of good, our 
reward will be sure. We resume its publication because 
there is no other paper now published in our town 
nor all the surrounding country. Washington City 
and Richmond are the nearest points to us where any 
paper is published. The community needs a paper. 
Whether the people will patronize the * Banner' or not, 
we cannot tell. As we used to do in olden times, so 
shall we continue to do in the future ; and that is, to 
write just as nearly what we please as circumstances 
will allow. One thing is certain and unmistakable; 
and that is, we shall exert our undivided and untiring 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 303 

I 

influence and efforts to get our fellow-citizens to become 
reconciled and return to the Union. This is our only 
hope of any peace or happiness in the future.' 



CHAPTER II. 



THE CRISIS ON US. 



Fools belch out nonsense and play the part of furious 
braggarts, spurning the admonitions of the wise and 
prudent. The maddening storm gathers blackness 
and darkness, and the deafening thunders burst over 
their heads, and the vivid lightnings play at their feet, 
before they can see and feel the danger, or admit the 
propriety or necessity of seeking a place of refuge and 
security. Thus it is with thousands of poor deluded 
souls at the present time. The storm has been gather- 
ing for more than twelve long months, and the cry has 
constantly been, "There is no danger;" yet, when men 
dared to say that danger threatened them in the future, 
they were spotted, regarded as traitors, and eyed as suspi- 
cious characters, who " ought to be reported to the military 
authorities, arrested, and sent to Richmond to be tried, 
condemned, and executed for treason against the South- 
ern Confederacy.'' The leaders in this terrible revolu- 
tion have cried, "Peace and safety," when sudden de- 
struction was at our very doors. If the leaders in this 
awful tragedy have knowingly and wilfully deceived 
the people, then they merit the unmitigated anathemas 
of all heaven and earth, through all time and eternity; 
if they have done it ignorantly, then they should be 



304 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

held up as brainless objects of pity, scorn ; and contempt, 
to the whole civilized world, as blazing beacons to all 
stupid, unprincipled, political adventurers through all 
coming time. 

Who is so skeptical or stultified as to deny any 
longer the fact that the terribly awful anticipated 
crisis is actually upon us? Politicians swindled the 
people out of their rights, made slaves of them, and 
then promised to lead them to independence, freedom, 
prosperity, glory, honor, and national immortality. 
Have they done it? The wide world answers, no! 
Where is our independence ? freedom ? prosperity ? 
glory ? honor ? national immortality ? Ay, where are 
the brave, heroic leaders themselves ? Politicians 
turned generals, and generals turned cowards, or have 
proven themselves totally incompetent to accomplish 
the mighty work they promised to perform. 

Not a single promise which the politicians made to 
the people has been met. In the science of political 
manoeuvring and swindling they were accomplished 
proficients, but when they girded on the sword and 
went out to battle they proved themselves the veriest 
of dolts. With but few exceptions, what have they 
done ? They have fallen back from place to place, and 
made so many surrenders that there are now but few 
more important points in the whole " Southern Confe- 
deracy" to yield. 

When our army fell back from Centreville and Fair- 
fax Court-House to Manassas Junction, this was "a 
strategic move," indicating great military skill, to draw 
the enemy from his stronghold. And, subsequently, 
when it fell back from Manassas Junction to Kappahan- 
nock Station, this was another grand device of military 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 305 

strategy. "Our generals know what they are doing. 
All is safe in their hands." Again, when our army fell 
back from Evansport, and from the whole line of the 
Potomac, to Fredericksburg, this was another "brilliant 
move of military strategy." Here a bold stand was to 
be made, and Fredericksburg was to be defended to the 
very last and at all hazards. And, finally, on the ever- 
memorable morning of the 18th of April, 1862, when 
by military authority our bridges were burned, and the 
vessels of poor seamen were wrapped in flames, and the 
brave, heroic general fled for his life, carrying with him 
his whole army, leaving helpless citizens, unarmed men, 
defenceless women and children, to an unknown and 
uncared-for destiny, this was another magnificently 
grand, military "strategic move." 

Great God ! Are men to be always deluded in this 
manner, forever following an ignis-fatuus, to be dragged 
into the vortex of irretrievable ruin, and, as they plunge 
headlong into the black whirlpool of destruction unless 
they shout hosannas to the demon phantom which 
caused their ruin, a thousand voices exclaim, " They are 
traitors, madmen, and ought to be damned !" 

Our generals have fled and carried the army with 
them ; and by this act they declare that they could not 
protect us. If they could, why did they not stay and 
do it? They have left us to our own fate; and it now 
becomes us as, wise and prudent men, to act the part of 
freemen, and take care of ourselves as best we can. 

26* 



306 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER III. 

HEART-RENDING THOUGHT. 

Hundreds of wives and thousands of children, whose 
husbands and fathers have been forced into the war, 
are left wholly dependent on their own exertions for 
the scanty means of a wretched existence. What must 
be the mental agonies of those husbands and fathers 
when they reflect on the helpless and unknown condi- 
tion of their wives and dear little children, who are far 
away, and no possible chance of seeing them, it may be, 
until the war shall have ended, and perhaps never 
again in this life ? And what must be the painful re- 
flections of these wives and mothers when they think 
of their dear husbands, and with sorrowing hearts and 
weeping eyes gaze on their poor little children, the 
whole responsibility of whose subsistence depends upon 
them ? Wives are left worse than widows, and chil- 
dren worse than orphans. Who but fathers and mo- 
thers can feel the deep, heart-felt afflictions of those 
parents who have sons far from home in the army, and — 
poor hoys I — it may be are actually suffering for food and 
raiment, and may-be wounded, sick, dying, or dead, 
and no affectionate hand to administer relief in a dying 
hour, and not even a slab to tell the stranger who 
they were, or where they lie f And all this affliction 
and sorrow, pain and death, produced to gratify the 
unhallowed and wicked ambition of unprincipled, as- 
piring demagogues ! 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 307 



CHAPTER IV. 

SECESSION LIKE THE DEVIL. 

It is said that the devil was a liar from the. begin- 
ning. If he were a liar from the beginning, he was a 
liar in the days of Jesus Christ, is a liar still, and will 
continue to be till the end of time. He lied to 
Eve in paradise, and she, influenced by his falsehood, 
sinned, and ruined the world. If the lies were all 
written in a book which the devil has told, the world 
itself would hardly be able to contain it. To say 
nothing more at present of the old devil, the father of 
lies, let us scan a few of the lies of the secession devil. 

1. That the Federal Government could be broken 
up, the Union dissolved, the old United States divided 
and two separate Governments formed out of them, 
without war and bloodshed. 

2. That if, by any possible chance, war should happen, 
it would commence between the Black Republicans and 
conservative men of the North, and would probably 
end there. 

3. That New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 
and Delaware would certainly unite their destinies with 
the South. 

4. That Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
and Missouri were all bound to secede, and would cer- 
tainly go with the Gulf States. This was a fixed fact. 

5. That if, in the event of any possible contingency, 
there should be war, the South had men, munitions, 



308 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

and ample means of all kinds to prosecute it to a suc- 
cessful and glorious issue. 

6. That the North had neither fighting-men, money, 
nor means to commence and prosecute a war. 

7. That cotton was king, his throne was in the Gulf 
States, his empire the world, and that all the little 
kings and queens of the earth were bound to fall down 
and worship him. 

8. That the vexed question of African slavery would 
be hushed into eternal silence, and the institution of 
slavery settled upon a firm and immovable basis. 

9. That slave territory would be enlarged, and slave 
property would advance one hundred per cent. 

10. That England and France, and consequently all 
other civilized nations of the world, would certainly 
acknowledge the independence of the Southern Con- 
federacy. This was, also, a fixed fact, bound to be 
done of necessity. 

11. That England and France would certainly raise 
the blockade; their interest would compel them to 
do it. 

12. That the Southern Confederacy would be the 
greatest Government in the world, and the citizens the 
most free, independent, wealthy, prosperous, and happy 
people on earth. 

All these, and many others, were the promises seces- 
sion made to the Southern people. That they are all 
false, needs no argument : developed facts prove them 
so. By these fair promises the people of the South 
were deceived. They were swindled out of all their 
rights, as the sequel of this mournful tragedy will 
prove. Yes! for less than one mess of pottage the 
whole South sold her birthright, has become bankrupt, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 309 

and the whole people plunged into a sea of sorrow, 
affliction, and death, the breadth and depth of which 
none but the all-penetrating eye of Omniscience can 
ever fathom. And yet, because we will not fall down 
and worship this demon-phantom, we must be spotted, 
and by ignorant, bigoted partisans branded as an 
enemy and traitor to the South. We are no enemy of 
the South ; we are no traitor to the South. No. We 
love the South, and always have loved her; and be- 
cause we love and always have loved the South, we 
always have, and do despise secession. 

We have always known, and ever maintained, that 
the only security the South and Southern institutions 
had, was contained in the provisions of the Federal 
Constitution. We are no traitor to the South. We 
indignantly spurn the base imputation, and pronounce 
it an unmitigated secession falsehood. 

The traitors and enemies of the South are the seces- 
sion leaders of the South. Where are the men who 
fired up the Southern heart and precipitated this once 
glorious, independent, prosperous, and happy country 
into the present terrible revolution ? Yes : where are 
they ? Are they in the camp, with their knapsacks on 
their backs and muskets on their shoulders ? Are they 
found lying side-by-side with the poor privates on the 
cold, wet ground ? Are they performing the duties of 
poor private soldiers, exposed to all the dangers of 
camp-life, for the pitiful sum of eleven dollars per 
month ? No. Their patriotism never pointed in that 
direction. With all their boasted patriotism and love 
of the South, they never intended to make such sacri- 
fices to save her. Where are they ? We answer, in 
Senate, Congress, and legislative halls, decreeing con- 



310 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

scription acts by which to force and drag men from 
their homes, from their wives and children, and drive 
them into camp to fight and die, while they themselves 
are living in magnificent splendor, enjoying all the 
luxuries of life, and wreathing their own brows with 
laurels which they vainly imagine will be as imperish- 
able as the records of eternity. 

Those men who affect to despise traitors, and are so 
very suspicious of the loyalty of others, take special 
good care to secure to themselves, their children, their 
near relations and dear friends, all the fat offices and 
honorable positions, both in the State and in the army. 

They are so patriotic, and love themselves so well, 
that they wish to monopolize the whole, lest in the 
scuffle for the spoils — the loaves and fishes — others 
should get a part. This is the mathematical measure- 
ment, the length, breadth, depth, and height, of the pa- 
triotism of thousands who are so vociferous in exclaim- 
ing against the disloyalty of true patriots, gentlemen, 
and Christians. 

Unprincipled politicians and ignorant, fanatical re- 
ligionists, North and South, have caused all the sorrows, 
afflictions, and troubles of war which now fill the 
country. In the Abolitionists of the North and the 
fire-eaters of the South, extremes have met, and the 
work of ruin is done. Abolitionism and secession com- 
bined to effect the overthrow of our Government, the 
downfall of our country. Great God ! what a fearful 
retribution awaits them in the awful future ! 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 311 



CHAPTER V. 

WHY DETHRONE REASON? 

Why is it that men will suffer passion and prejudice 
to dethrone reason ? Let us consider for a moment our 
present deplorable condition. Our generals and army 
have left us to the mercy of chance. Congress have 
broken up in a state of terrified confusion, and have 
gone to seek their own safety far from the seat of war, 
on their cotton, sugar, and rice plantations; the citi- 
zens of Richmond have become panic-stricken, and are 
leaving the city ; the military and civil authorities are 
making preparations to burn the tobacco and public 
stores of the army, which have not been and cannot be 
sent away. These are facts, we presume, which are 
questioned by no one. 

Why is it that at this important crisis, when the 
lives of our dear sons and so many of our fellow-citi- 
zens are trembling on the very brink of eternity, 
the very men — the leaders in this awful tragedy — fly 
before the advancing enemy ? Why do they not stand 
and face the danger? Because conscience has made 
cowards of them. They feel the guilt, — they dread the 
penalty, — and fly to save their own worthless carcasses 
from being captured. And yet our dear children, 
neighbors, and friends must stay, and fight and die to 
protect the persons and property of the guilty leaders 
who have fired up the Southern heart and inveigled 
them into ruin. Are parents willing to see their own 



312 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

dear children butchered and slaughtered like wild 
beasts of the field, to gratify the unhallowed ambition 
of cowards, tyrants, and traitors? Can and will free- 
men submit to such an outrage ? No : surely they will 
not. Then let us demand our children; let us call 
them home, and let Jeff Davis and his clique go to the 
devil, where they ought to have been long ago. 

Clique. — By clique we mean the Cabinet and the 
ringleaders who were associated with Jeff Davis in his 
conspiracy against the Eepublic. "We guess thousands 
will wish he had been at the devil long before this war 
commenced, both before and after it shall have ended. 



CHAPTER VI. 

REFLECTIONS. 

Sadness fills our heart, and tear-drops fill our eyes, 
when we look back on the past, scan the present, and 
take a peep into the dark, mysterious future. Memory 
brings up all the hallowed associations of the past, and 
forces a contrast with the present, while sorrow fills the 
soul, and we are made to exclaim, "0 God, what is 
man, that thou shouldst regard him, or the son of man, 
that thou shouldst visit him?" 

But two years ago, what a happy people we were, in 
the full enjoyment of all blessings, earthly and divine, 
that an honest and grateful people could have desired. 
Our fields were everywhere cultivated, and yielded 
abundant harvest. Men were happy in the peaceful 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 313 

possession of their homes, their political, social, civil, 
and religious rights. Freedom of thought, freedom of 
speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of action 
were the pride and boast of every American citizen. 
Every man could think what he pleased, speak what he 
pleased, write what he pleased, do what he pleased, go 
where he pleased, and come when he pleased, and no 
one dared to oppose, unless he acted in violation of the 
civil laws of his country. 

Families were happy. Husbands and wives, parents 
and children, brothers and sisters, were happy in their 
quiet, peaceful homes. Homesteads, churches, and the 
groves were vocal with the praises of God. The mil- 
lennium, or a thousand years' reign of Christ upon the 
earth with the faithful, was strongly anticipated by 
many. A nation's heart beat with joy and gladness 
inexpressible. We were a happy people, — a nation 
blessed above all the nations of the earth. No, never, 
since God conducted his own chosen Israel into the land 
of Canaan, has any people or nation of the whole earth 
been blessed as have been the American people. 

How changed are all things now! Many of our 
finest farms are uncultivated, — fences are destroyed, 
and the fields are made desolate and have become the 
camping-ground of soldiers. The tap of the drum, 
the martial music of bands, the tents of the warrior, 
now fall upon our ear and meet our eye at almost every 
point. Men fly from their homes as from deadly 
poison, leaving all their interests to chance and blind 
fatality. Political, social, civil, and religious rights 
are no longer respected. Freedom of opinion, speech, 
the press, and action is no longer the pride and boast 
of freemen. Men are now afraid to express their 

27 



314 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

opinions, simply because they are no longer freemen. 
The freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the 
freedom of action, are all suppressed; and men who 
once boasted of their freedom and bravery now quail 
and writhe under the lash of military despotism. How 
are the mighty fallen, and the strong made to tremble ! 
This is no fiction. Stern realities stare us full in the 
face, and we must meet them, whether we wish to do 
so or not. 

Families are no longer happy. Husbands are torn 
from their wives, fathers from their children, and sons 
from their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and 
homes. The once peaceful, quiet, and happy homes 
of thousands are either forsaken and left desolate, or 
changed into habitations of weeping, mourning, and 
deep lamentation. The homesteads and churches of 
thousands, and the groves, are no longer vocal with 
the praises of God. The millennium, or reign of 
Christ a thousand years with his people on earth, is no 
longer immediately anticipated. A nation's heart is 
made to bleed. 



CHAPTER VII. 

A WORD OF ADMONITION TO THE CITIZENS OF FREDE- 
RICKSBURG. 

The pall of death seems to have fallen on our entire 
community, embracing all classes within its encircling 
folds. If the destroying angel had passed over our 
city and had smitten the first-born of every family, a 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 315 

more gloomy appearance of things could hardly be pre- 
sented. Places of business, with few exceptions, are 
everywhere closed up, and men walk about the streets 
as if in constant expectation of hearing the last shrill 
note of Gabriel's awful trump. Many private resi- 
dences are closed and forsaken, and families have de- 
serted their quiet, peaceful homes, to become refugees 
and sufferers among strangers in other parts of our 
country. 

Horticulture, to a great extent, is neglected; while 
all are reposing in a state of idleness and inexplicable 
suspense, wondering when, and where, and how the 
scene will end. An indescribable panic has seized all 
classes of our once brave, happy, industrious, and 
prosperous people. What must be the end of all this? 
There can be but one answer to this question if things 
continue thus, and that is, starvation and death will be 
the inevitable result. 

Hence we would say to one and all of our fellow- 
citizens, go to work! Up and at it! Attend more 
strictly to business than ever, because there is greater 
need than there has ever been at any former period 
of our lives. What is the use for men to become plis- 
heartened, and give up the ghost, and die before the 
time comes? If men refuse to work, nothing can be 
produced; and if nothing be produced, people must 
starve. 

Gazing at soldiers, listening to martial music, and 
following the army about will never make the " pot 
boil." The duty and business of soldiers is one thing, 
and the duty and business of citizens is another thing. 
Soldiers consume, and citizens produce; if, therefore, 
the citizens neglect to produce, both citizens and sol- 



316 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

diers must ultimately starve. Soldiers, however, have 
this decided advantage over citizens: the former are 
fed and clothed from the public crib, while the latter 
have to look after their own food and raiment. Armies 
must and will be supported, provided the produce is to 
be had, and citizens can only get the excess after 
armies are supplied. This fact, of itself, is sufficient 
to rouse every one to action, and stimulate all to do 
their utmost. Then we would admonish all, old and 
young, male and female, high and low, rich and poor, 
bond and free, to go to work, and work for life, or 
famine and death will be the result. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONFEDERATE ARMY LEAVES FREDERICKSBURG. 

On the morning of the 18th of April, 1862, the Con- 
federate Army evacuated the town of Fredericksburg, 
leaving the citizens to share whatever fate might 
chance to befall them. Never, perhaps, did any army 
leave a place with greater expedition than did our 
army leave the venerable old town of Fredericksburg. 
Before leaving, however, they set fire to Falmouth, 
Scott's, and the railroad bridges ; also to the following 
vessels : — 

Steamer Virginia, Captain Fairbank ; steamer Saint 
Nicholas, Captain Lewis, of the Confederate Army; 
schooner May, owned by McConkey, Parr & Co., Balti- 
more City, Md., and Henry Armstrong, valued at 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 317 

$4500; schooner Ada, owned by Samuel G-. Miles, 
of Baltimore City, Mel., valued at $3500: schooner 
Northern Light, Captain Thomas Pritchett, Lancaster 
county, Va., valued at $2000; Reindeer, Captain Job 
Moore, Middlesex county, Va., valued at $1500; Be- 
capolis, Captain John Evans, Fredericksburg, Va., 
valued at $700; Mary Fierce, owned by E. W. Adams 
and L. B. Eddens, Fredericksburg, Va., valued at 
$5500; Helen, Captain Solomon Philips, Essex county, 
Va., valued at $2000; William T. Valliant, Captain 
B. George, Lancaster county, Va., valued at $1500; 
Anglo-Saxon, owned by Segar & Purkins, Middlesex 
county, Va., valued at $1600; Dazzling Orb, Captain 
A. Jenkins, Fredericksburg, Va., valued at $600; 
Puteola, owned by A. Williams and B. Walker, Lan- 
caster county, Va., valued at $1500; James Henry, 
owned by Captains Mullin and Dickinson, Bichmond 
county, Va., valued at $400; J. Wagner, Captain Tole- 
man, Lancaster county, Va., valued at $2250 ; Active, 
Captain Henry Taylor, Bichmond county, Va., valued 
at $2000; Sea-Breeze, owned by Miles, of Baltimore, 
Crabb & Scrimger, of Bichmond county, Va., valued 
at $2000; Mary Miller, owned by C. Burgess, of 
Northumberland county, Va., and Miller, of Middle- 
sex county, Va., valued at $4000; Nancy Spreicell, 
owned by E. Mann, of North Carolina, valued at 
$2500; Bucy Penn, owned by Seirs, of Gloucester 
county, Va., valued at $1600; Hiawatha, owned by 
Mr. Garland, Bichmond county, Va., valued at $2500; 
sloop Amethyst, Captain Charles Gutridge, Fredericks- 
burg, Va., valued at $900. 

Including the value of the steamer Virginia and 
the Saint Nicholas, it will be discovered that more 

27* 



318 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

than one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars' 
worth of vessels was destroyed, to say nothing about 
the vast amount of grain and other property consumed 
in them, all of which will, probably, prove in the end 
a total loss to the owners. 

Admitting the fact that the burning of the bridges 
was " a military necessity," — which we very much ques- 
tion, — we utterly ignore the idea that the burning of 
the vessels was ; and, while no good to the Southern 
Confederacy, and but little if any injury to the enemy, 
could possibly result from an act so outrageously cruel, 
it has reduced at least some of the owners of the vessels 
to a state of almost total bankruptcy. Some of these men 
have labored and toiled for years, and by rigid economy 
had succeeded in accumulating sufficient amounts to 
purchase vessels, and their all of earthly goods was 
invested in them, and in a single hour they behold the 
hard earnings of many years reduced to ashes. What 
a pity ! What a shame ! 

In connection with the burning of the bridges and 
vessels, we would state that from fifteen to twenty 
thousand dollars' worth of cotton was also burnt, which 
might have been saved, had not such a terrible panic 
seized the managers of the cars. 

We witnessed the burning of the bridges and vessels, 
and, truly, the scene was one of melancholy sublimity. 
May we never again witness such reckless, wanton, 
wicked destruction of property ! On the 18th day of 
April, 1861, the Virginia Convention passed the ordi- 
nance of secession, and on the 18th of April, 1862, the 
Federal authorities took possession of Fredericksburg. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 319 



CHAPTEE IX. 

FEDERAL TROOPS TAKE POSSESSION OF FREDERICKSBURG. 

Pursuant to orders of Brigadier- General Patrick, 
on Wednesday, the 7th of May, 1862, the Southern 
Tier Bines, 23d New York Volunteers, Colonel H. C. 
Hoffman commanding, took up its line of march from 
camp near Falmouth, for the occupation of Fredericks- 
burg, arriving in the city at nine o'clock a.m. Such 
respectful regard was paid to the sensitiveness of the 
inhabitants of our town as to dispense with the martial 
music usual upon such occasions, the regiment marching 
silently to its quarters, with fine and soldierly bearing. 
Companies were immediately detailed and despatched 
to outposts guarding the various approaches to the 
town. 

The officers of this regiment, field, staff, and line, 
are gentlemen of the highest respectability and of 
dignified and courteous demeanor ; and such has been 
the respectful deportment of this entire command as to 
elicit the most unbounded admiration and confidence 
of all the inhabitants of our town. 

By order of Colonel Hoffman, Sergeant-Major De- 
voe and Color-Corporal Crocker flung the time-honored 
flag — the good old " Stars and Stripes" — to the breeze at 
head-quarters, opposite the railroad-depot, immediately 
upon their occupation. This regiment, we learn, has 
been chosen for the occupation of the town on account 
of its high character for respectability and rigid dis- 



320 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

cipline; and, from what we have seen, we are confident 
a more judicious selection could not be made. Wit- 
nessing, as we do, the preservation of all personal 
rights and privileges, the protection of private pro- 
perty, and the unrestricted conduct and continuance of 
the accustomed business pursuits and avocations of our 
citizens, we cannot but conclude that this war is waged 
by the General Government upon principles infinitely 
transcending in mercy and generous magnanimity all 
others which the world has ever known, and of which 
history affords no precedent or parallel. 



CHAPTER X. 

FEDERAL TROOPS LANDING ON THE WHARF OF FRE- 
DERICKSBURG. 

The Federal troops effected a landing on the wharf 
of Fredericksburg on Friday evening, the 2d day of 
May, 1862, exactly two weeks to a day from the eva- 
cuation of the town by the Confederate forces. The 
bridge of canal-boats being completed, Major-General 
King and staff, consisting of Captain Robinson, Lieu- 
tenants Wood and Benkardt, Brigadier-General Patrick 
and staff, crossed over the bridge from the Stafford to 
the Fredericksburg landing, and rode through the 
principal streets, taking a survey of matters and things 
in general, and of the good old town in particular. 
Immediately in rear of the generals, Company D, 23d 
Regiment New York Volunteers, Captain L. Todd, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 321 

Lieutenants Colby and Jones, crossed over and occupied 
the large warehouse of A. K. Phillips, Esq., after 
which pickets were immediately stationed at different 
points through the city. 



CHAPTEE XL 



In the number of the "Christian Banner" of May 
17, 1862, we published the following editorials :— 

''REBELLION AND STUBBORNNESS. 

"Holy writ says, and says nothing more true, that 
'Kebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubborn- 
ness is as iniquity and idolatry.' Saint Paul says, 
'Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For 
there is no power but of God; the powers that be are 
ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the 
power resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that 
resist shall receive to themselves damnation.' 

"This is the language of inspiration. What does it 
mean ? Let us see. 

"Dr. MacKnight says, 'The government of every 
State, whether it be monarchical, aristocratical, demo- 
cratical, or mixed, is as really of divine appointment 
as the government of the Jews was, though none but 
the Jewish form was of divine legislation. God having 
designed mankind to live in society, he has, by the 
frame of their nature, and by the reason of things, au- 
thorized government to be exercised in every country. 
At the same time, having appointed no particular form 



322 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

to any nation but to the Jews, nor named any particular 
person or family to exercise the power of government, 
he has left it to the people to choose what form is most 
agreeable to themselves, and to commit the exercise of 
the supreme power to what persons they think fit. 
And, therefore, whatever form of government hath been 
chosen or is established in any country hath the di- 
vine sanction; and the persons who, by the choice, or 
even by the peaceable submission, of the governed, have 
the reins of government in their hands, are the lawful 
sovereigns of that country, and have all the rights and 
prerogatives belonging to sovereignty vested in their 
persons. 

"'Wherefore, since the power of which the apostle 
speaks is the form of government, and not the rulers 
of a country, the subjection to the higher powers en- 
joined is not an unlimited passive obedience to rulers 
in things sinful, but an obedience to the wholesome 
laws enacted for the good of the community by com- 
mon consent, or by those who, according to the consti- 
tution of the State, have the power of enacting laws. 
To these good laws the people are to give obedience, 
without examining by what title the magistrates who 
execute these laws hold their power, and even with- 
out considering whether the religion professed by the 
magistrates be true or false. For the same reason, the 
opposition to and resistance of the power forbidden is 
an opposition to and resistance of the established gov- 
ernment, by disobeying the wholesome laws of the State, 
or by attempting to overthrow the government, from a 
factious disposition, or from ill will to the persons in 
power, or from an ambitious desire to possess the 
government, ourselves.' 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED, 323 

"The Constitution of the Federal Government is one 
of the ablest documents in the world, and contains the 
purest and best form of government with which any 
people have ever been blessed since the direct legisla- 
tion of Heaven over the Jews in the land of Canaan. 
" By the wholesome provisions embraced in this Con- 
stitution, our fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, 
and we, their descendants, have been and were pro- 
tected in our persons, and rights of all kinds, and were 
prosperous and happy,— enjoying all the blessings heart 
could wish,— until an ill-natured faction attempted the 
overthrow of this Government. 

" The idea that a set of ambitious, disappointed poli- 
ticians could destroy the Constitution framed by the 
clearest heads and purest hearts the world has ever 
known since the days of the apostles of Jesus Christ, 
or make such improvements on it as virtually to anni- 
hilate it, is an instance of political egotism without a 
parallel in the history of the world. It is absolutely 
as ridiculous as if a school-boy, who has just learned to 
decline a Greek noun or to conjugate a Latin verb, 
should attempt to improve on the beauties and ele- 
gancies of Homer or Virgil. The effort was made, 
however, and the result has proven a failure, — the 
ruin of all ! 

" We say that a faction of ill-natured politicians at- 
tempted to usurp the reins of government, — resisting 
the constituted authorities both of God and the people, 
— and, having resisted, they 'shall receive to them- 
selves damnation,' or destruction. Are they not al- 
ready politically damned ? When this war shall have 
ended, will there be a single prestige of their former 
glory? When thousands of women and millions of 



324 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

children shall wake up to the astonishing reality that 
they are widows and orphans, left homeless, penniless, 
friendless, and thrown upon the cold charity of a 
heartless, bankrupt country, and shall ask, Who and 
what did this ? and the volume of history shall be 
unfolded to their astonished vision, then will the 
anathemas of millions be heaped upon the very names 
and ashes of the leaders in this horribly wicked revo- 
lution. 

"A faction of politicians, whose motto was, rule or 
ruin, met in secret convention, concocted all their plans, 
determined at all hazards to carry them into effect, 
created and signed an ordinance of secession, and then 
told their people, and published to the world, that the 
State had seceded. And for what cause was all this 
done ? • Not because Abraham Lincoln was elected to 
the Presidency of the United States;' not because of 
the passage of the 'personal liberty bills.' No; but 
because they had desired, and had been endeavoring 
for more than thirty years, to overthrow the Federal 
Government, — to dissolve the blessed Union, cemented 
by the sweat and blood of our ancestors, — in order to 
establish a Government in harmony with their own am- 
bitious views, and in which they could rule and govern. 

" The border States were to be dragged into the same 
political whirlpool of destruction. How was this to be 
done ? By political intrigue. By a right-down swin- 
dle. At least, this was the way Virginia was carried 
out of the Union. Let us see. 

"The Legislature of Virginia called a convention. 
Union and secession candidates were brought out 
before the people. Union candidates were elected by 
an overwhelming majority. They were elected with 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 325 

the perfect understanding that they were to take into 
consideration the policy or impolicy of passing an ordi- 
nance of secession ; and the final result of their delibera- 
tions was to be referred back to the people. That con- 
vention met in Richmond ; and it is useless to say 
how long it remained in session before an ordinance of 
secession was passed. Every outside pressure possible 
was brought to bear upon it. The Legislature of Vir- 
ginia was in session during the whole time ; and, if not 
all, a large majority of the members of the Legislature 
were rampant secessionists. And, finally, a secret 
secession convention of select, simon-pure secessionists 
was called, with which the people of Virginia had 
nothing to do, — not being allowed even the privilege 
of knowing why and for what it was called. In the 
mean time, an orator from Virginia visited Charleston, 
South Carolina; and the object of that mission our 
readers must divine. Secessionists began to despair 
as to the result of the Virginia Convention. At length, 
however, the news flew over the telegraph-wires that 
Fort Sumter had fallen. Cannons were fired. Speeches 
were made all over the town. Loud huzzas rent the 
air, and the ' tiger groans/ like the hollow mutterings 
of devils damned coming up from the lowest depths 
of perdition, sounded the death-knell of Virginia in 
our ears. All was over. Now, any man who dared 
to speak a word in favor of the Union was a black- 
hearted traitor to Virginia and the South, a downright 
Abolitionist, a Lincolnite, and ought to be driven out of 
the country or hung. 

11 If our memory serves us correctly, the news of the 
downfall of Fort Sumter reached Fredericksburg on 
Saturday evening, the 13th of April, 1861; and on the 

28 



326 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

following Tuesday, the 16th of April, 1861, the secret 
secession convention met in Eichmond, and on Wed- 
nesday, the 17th of April, 1861, the Virginia Conven- 
tion went into secret session, and on Thursday, the 
18th of April, 1861, the Virginia Convention passed 
the ordinance of secession, which sealed the fate, the 
downfall, of the greatest State in the Union. 

"The action of the convention was yet to come 
before the people. All were urged to go to the polls 
and vote, and present a bold front to the North, and 
thus prevent war and secure peace. Those who had 
been Union men, if they voted the secession ticket and 
professed conversion to the glorious doctrine of seces- 
sion, were to be marked as hypocrites. If they re- 
mained at home and refused to vote, they were traitors, 
and should be spotted; a seal of black reprobation was 
to be stamped on them and on their children through all 
coming time. If they voted for the Union, they were 
Abolitionists, and ought to be driven out of Virginia, 
and out of the whole South, or hung with a ' grape- 
vine.' 

" It was likewise urged that, because the vote in the 
convention was almost unanimous, — there being only 
an insignificant minority of about six or seven votes, 
four of whom voted against the ordinance, and one, per- 
haps, was sick, one or twp being absent who would have 
voted for secession if they had been present, — therefore 
the entire people of the State ought, by all means, to vote 
for the ratification of the action of the convention. But 
when the injunction of secrecy was removed from the 
doings of that convention in June. following, and the 
facts were developed, there were upwards of forty-jive 
members who never did vote for the ordinance of seces- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. * 327 

sion at all. And yet we were told that it was almost a 
unanimous vote. This was a political swindle. 

"Nor was this all. The convention, instead of 
adjourning and letting the people at once decide the 
question for themselves, sent Congressmen to Mont- 
gomery, Alabama, and tied Virginia on to the Southern 
Confederacy before the people of the State had voted 
on the question at all. This called forth the following 
remarks from our pen, which appeared in the < Chris- 
tian Banner' of May 2, 1861, next to the last number 
we published : — 

c ' Is it not an alarming usurpation of authority that 
the Virginia Convention should have appointed gentle- 
men to the Congress of the Confederate States at all ? 
Was this the purpose for which the Virginia Conven- 
tion was called ? We did not so understand it. Is it 
not an alarming usurpation of power that the Virginia 
Convention should unite the destiny of the Old Domi- 
nion with the Confederate States of America, before the 
vote of the citizens of the State is taken on the ques- 
tion ? Are a million of freemen to be bartered and 
sold, and handed over to other authorities without being 
consulted, and without their knowledge or consent, 
by a convention of men elected by the people to trans- 
act other and different matters? If we understood the 
subject, the convention was called together to decide 
on the policy of passing an ordinance of secession or 
non-secession ; after which the action of the convention 
was to be referred back to the sovereign people for their 
ratification or rejection. The whole matter is pre- 
arranged and virtually fixed, and then the people are 
called on to vote on all the subjects together. If this 



328 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

be the beginning of our new order of things, what 
will the end be?' 

" These are facts which every citizen of intelligence 
in this community knows to be true. And because we 
exposed the system of wicked swindling, the political 
cheat imposed upon the people, we were admonished to 
' beware how and what we wrote.' We had been 
treated with indignity, and insulted beyond measure, 
more than a month before this, when, in justice to our- 
self and to the Union men in Fredericksburg, we spoke 
at a public meeting in the court-house, where a power- 
ful effort was made to raise a mob and break up 
the meeting. The conduct of our opponents on that 
occasion beggars all description; and while we were 
addressing our fellow-citizens, and warning them of the 
awful dangers ahead if Virginia should secede, some 
one in the crowd threw an egg at us ; but, knowing and 
feeling that we were pleading for the interest of our 
fellow-citizens and for the salvation of our country, 
we silently endured the insult, treating it with con- 
tempt. All this happened more than a month before 
Virginia seceded. In the mean time, before the day of 
election arrived, when the action of the convention 
was to come before the people for their approval or dis- 
approval, thousands on thousands of troops from the 
seceded States came pouring into Virginia and were 
stationed in most of the cities and towns in the State. 
Fredericksburg was literally filled with them. 

" The day of election came, and we had determined 
not to vote, nor go to the court-house at all. During 
the day, however, one of our prominent citizens, and an 
able jurist, called on us, and invited us out of our office, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 329 

to tell us, frankly, candidly, and most sincerely as a 
true friend, that, unless we went and voted for the 
ratification of the action of the convention, our stand- 
ing, influence, and all our prospects even for living in 
the community, were blighted and blasted forever, and 
we would be called a traitor, and a tory, and that in 
years to come it would be thrown up to our children, 
&c. &c, as it was in the old Revolutionary War ; and 
therefore, ' for the sake of your churches, all of which 
are in the South, — for the sake of your friends, of whom 
you have many, — for the sake of your children, and 
children's children, in years to come, — and for your own 
sake, standing, and influence, and very existence, in 
Virginia and the South,' &c. &c, — 'go and vote.' 
Knowing that our vote could effect nothing either the 
one way or the other, so far as the destiny of Virginia 
was concerned, late in the evening we went to the 
court-house, and stated to the commissioners that we 
were no convert to secession, that we despised secession, 
but that we were in Virginia, and would go with Vir- 
ginia, and that if they considered this a vote they could 
take it. Immediately they called out our name, and 
cried out, 'Ratification.' 

" Since the day of election for the ratification of Vir- 
ginia's secession, what have we either said or done to 
cause any one, however stupid, to think that we had 
changed our views on the subject of secession ? Have 
we delivered any secession speeches ? No. Have we 
prayed any secession prayers ? God knows we have 
not ! Have we argued the cause of secession ? No. 
Have we asked for any office, or for any situation of 
any kind, in the Southern Confederacy ? No, we have 
not. Have we not uniformly said to all persons, at all 

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330 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

times, and in all places, at home and abroad, on the 
streets, in the stores, and everywhere and always, that 
we despised secession, and that because we felt a 
devotion for the South which no blind secessionist could 
feel, therefore we opposed secession ? 

" What have we done? We have been slanderously 
reported as having held secret Union meetings for the 
purpose of plotting treason against the Southern Con- 
federacy. This is infamously false. We have been 
treated with indignity, and attempts have been made 
by certain characters to insult us, who were themselves 
beneath contempt. We have been meanly and basely 
slandered both at home and abroad, simply because we 
used our best efforts to save the South from ruin. And 
now we are threatened with a rope, if ever the time 
comes and an opportunity is offered. 

"What have we done? We opened a private board- 
ing-house last winter, as a matter of necessity, to keep 
from starvation. We treated the poor soldiers the 
very best we could : we did this because we were sorry 
for them ; we did it for their sake, — for the sake of 
their parents and friends ; we did it for the sake of 
their wives and children, many of them being men of 
families ; we did it for the sake of humanity and our 
common Christianity ; and we feel sorry that we were 
not able to do more for them and better by them than 
what we did. This is our inconsistency ; this our dis- 
loyalty to the South ; this our treason. This is what 
we have done. 

" What has secession done for Virginia and the 
South ? It has inaugurated civil war ; it has filled the 
South with the wildest anarchy and confusion ; it has 
desolated our cities, towns, and villages ; it has laid 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 331 

waste the most beautiful, wealthy, and prosperous por- 
tions of our State; it has built hospitals, and filled 
them with the wounded, sick, and dying; it has 
made widows and orphans by hundreds of thousands ; 
it has opened a fountain of sorrow, afiiiction, woe, and 
death without a parallel in the history of the world; 
it has reduced the wealthy to a state of comparative 
poverty, and made the poor still poorer ; it has brought 
Canada not only to our doors, but into our very midst. 
The Confederate States seceded from the Union to 
'get their rights,' and the negroes are seceding from 
their masters to 'enjoy their right,' and the desolating 
work of secession is still going on. We are doing 
what we can to arrest it in its onward and ruinous 
course. 

" But 'rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stub- 
bornness is as iniquity and idolatry.' There are those 
who still seem determined to resist to their own ruin, 
and, if possible, to the ruin of all others. What, we ask, 
will life be worth after our dear children, our neigh- 
bors, friends, and relatives, are all killed, our country 
left in ruins, and all reduced to a state of want and 
abject poverty? Our fellow-citizens may scorn us, per- 
secute us, and curse us now; but in after-years, when 
the whole affair shall have been wound up, and the 
great excitement of secession and war shall have passed 
away, and men shall begin to think, then a reaction 
will take place, and posterity will do us justice. May 
God, in his infinite mercy and eternal goodness, save us 
from these awful calamities, and that right early ! 

"We have written the above article, because we learn 
that it is being reported through town that, before the 



332 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Federals arrived in Fredericksburg, we were one of the 
most rampant secessionists in all the country, but that 
as soon as they came we turned right over to their side. 
This is the reason why we have stated in the above 
article some few of the many revolting facts and cir- 
cumstances connected with the political swindle in 
forcing Virginia out of the Union. If we can secure 
paper and ink, by the help of God and our fellow-citi- 
zens, we shall write many things which we trust will 
be of service to the people. Bead, and think !" 



CHAPTER XII. 



In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 
27, 1862, we published the following editorials : — 

"SUBMISSION. 

" This word submission has for nearly the last two 
years produced a greater terror over the Southern 
people than any other word to be found in the English 
language, or in any language in the world. Submis- 
sion ! Submission to whom ? Submission to what ? 
'Submission to old Abe Lincoln!' 'Submission to 
Black Republican rule /' ' Submission to the Lincoln 
Government !' 

"Argue rationally, logically, philosophically, and 
according to the plainest rules of common sense with 
secessionists, and the best and profoundest argument 
one will ever hear them advance to justify themselves 
in their reckless course of ruin is simply this : — ' What ! 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 333 

submit to old Abe Lincoln V ' Submit to be ruled and 
governed by an old Abolition rail-splitter !' ' Submit to 
Black Republican rule!' 'Never! never! never!' 
'We'll die, every man of us, first.' This was an irre- 
fragable argument. No one in all the schools of com- 
mon-sense philosophy could be found wise enough to 
confute it. 

" Who had to submit to Lincoln ? What govern- 
ment had Lincoln ? What power had he more than 
was guaranteed to him by the Constitution, as Chief 
Magistrate of the United States? None whatever. 
If all the States had remained quietly and peace- 
ably in the Union, Lincoln could not have inaugurated 
a civil war upon the South. This was a constitutional 
impossibility. The Federal Government never in- 
augurated war upon the South. South Carolina and 
the seceded States inaugurated civil war upon the 
Federal Government, or upon the Government of the 
United States. This is a fact which will go down in 
history to the latest generation of American citizens. 

" But let us examine and see who are the submission- 
ists. The people of South Carolina submitted to Messrs. 
Rhett, Keitt, Boyce & Co. Mississippi submitted to 
South Carolina. Alabama submitted to South Carolina 
and Mississippi. Georgia and Florida submitted to 
these three, and Louisiana and Texas submitted to 
these five cotton States, making seven ; and these seven 
cotton States seceded, not by the popular vote of the 
people of these States, but by conventions; and these 
several conventions appointed delegates to meet at 
Montgomery, Alabama, for the purpose of forming 
a 'Provisional Government;' and this convention nomi- 
nated and elected Jeff Davis, of Mississippi, President, 



334 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

and Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. The people 
had to submit in silence to all this. 

"This convention then set to work and mutilated the 
Constitution of the United States, and, with their im- 
provements, amendments, and mutilations, called it the 
- Constitution of the Confederate States of America,' 
and forced it upon the people of these several States, 
and they had to submit. Then this Montgomery Con- 
vention empowered the conventions of the seven re- 
volted cotton States to appoint members to form a 
Congress for the purpose of enacting laws by which to 
move and work the grand machinery of this new order 
of things. All this was done independently of the 
popular voice of the people of these States. There was 
no submission in all this, was there ? Were there no 
Union men in all these seven cotton States, while these 
things were being acted out? What did they do? 
What could they do but submit to the arbitrary will 
and yield submission to the military power of this self- 
constituted body f 

" Has not Virginia yielded in humble submission, 
through the intrigue of her leaders, to the confederacy 
of the seven cotton States ? Yes : through the treachery 
of her State Legislature and State Convention, Vir- 
ginia was forced out of the Union on the 18th (as they 
say) of April, 1861, and was immediately tied on to 
the seven cotton-States Confederacy, and Eichmond 
city, Virginia, was determined on as the capital of the 
Southern Confederacy, and Jeff Davis and his army 
were urged to hasten on to Richmond and into Vir- 
ginia to act as a kind of terror to the ' Union-shriekers,' 
■ submissionists,' ' traitors,' and ' Black Republicans' 
of Virginia, on the day of voting for the ratification of 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 335 

the ordinance of secession, which took place on the 23d 
day of May, 1861, more than one month from the time 
of the passage of the ordinance of secession. And on 
the day of election, as we have stated in our editorials 
of a former number of the 'Banner,' all the principal 
cities, towns, and villages in Virginia were literally 
filled with soldiers. And not only so, but civil war was 
inaugurated in Virginia before the day of election for 
the ratification or non-ratification of the acts of the 
convention. Gosport Navy- Yard was seized, and the 
Arsenal at Harper's Ferry was burned, before the day 
of election. All this was planned and executed for the 
purpose of forcing Virginia into submission to secession 
rule, intrigue, and treachery. So that at least a ma- 
jority of some sixty or seventy thousand voters in the 
State of Virginia had at last to bow at the point of 
the bayonet in humble submission to the will, purpose, 
determination, and domination of a few leaders in the 
cotton States, 'away down South in Dixie.' 

" This is submission, with a tyrant's rod and a ven- 
geance. And all who were opposed to secession have 
been forced to submit, because a military despotism has 
been hanging over them ever since; and this in freedom, 
— independence ! 

11 Submission! Are not the very men who indignantly 
spurned the idea of submission to the constituted au- 
thorities of their eountry now submitting to the great- 
est imaginable indignities from their own servants? 
Masters have set the ungodly example of non-submission 
to the f higher powers, that be ordained of God,' and 
their servants have caught the cue, and swear that 
they will no longer submit to the rule of their masters. 
Why do masters submit to the reckless insubordination 



336 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

of their slaves ? For the same reason that Union men, 
twelve months ago, had to submit to the will and dic- 
tation of secessionists : — simply because they can't help 
themselves; and hence anarchy reigns rampant every- 
where, and among all classes, all over the country. 
Great God ! to what a queer state of affairs our country 
is reduced. Secessionists will not submit to be governed 
by the ' Constitution of the United States,' and Union 
men will not submit to be governed by the Constitution 
of the ' Confederate States ;' and servants refuse to 
be governed by the legal authority of their masters. 
Indeed, this is a terrible state of insubordination. We 
knew from the beginning that secession would inevi- 
tably produce this state of things ; and therefore we 
opposed it. And because we did and do oppose it, we 
are branded as an enemy to the South. How blindly, 
how wickedly false ! 

" In proof that Virginia was forced out of the Union 
by the acts of the civil and military leaders of seces- 
sion, we need no stronger evidence than the suppression 
of the publication of the popular vote of the citizens of 
Virginia. Who can tell the number of votes actually 
polled by citizens of Virginia for the ratification of the 
ordinance of secession ? This is a question of grave im- 
portance, which we submit to the leading secessionists 
of Virginia. Still, the people must submit. This is 
submission. 

" Nor is this all. When the people of Virginia were 
called upon, this spring, to go into a mock-election for a 
President of the Southern Confederacy, they were told 
that it would be bad policy to have two candidates in 
this early stage of our Government, and, moreover, that 
war-times was no time to be discussing politics, and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 337 

therefore all the voters of Virginia ought to go to 
the polls and vote for Jeff Davis. Who can tell what 
was the number of votes polled? The people of 
Virginia ought to know this. We were urged to go to 
the polls and vote ; but we did not. Why should we ? 
Had there been but ten votes cast in the whole State, 
or in the whole South, Jeff Davis would still have re- 
mained President of the Southern Confederacy. 

"Virginians have to submit to all these things, and a 
thousand more, and that in silence, or be threatened 
with a drawn halter around their necks. This is sub- 
mission to the one-man power t — the submission of whole 
States to a few contemptible, petty, tyrannical traitors. 
Yes, these secessionists won't submit to the regular, 
constituted authorities of their country, but they 
pompously and arrogantly dictate to others; and, 
unless all others bow in humble submission to them, 
they are to be hung, shot, quartered, tarred and 
feathered, and banished from their country. Good 
Lord, deliver us ! 

"Once more. When the militia were called out, this 
spring, it is well known that they were unwilling to go 
into service, and, the Confederate Government fearing 
the consequences, Congress passed an act of conscription, 
by which they were all forced into service, except a few, 
who so managed their cards as to elude the clutches 
of the military bands that were sent prowling through 
the country to catch them up and hurry them into the 
army. There was no submission in this, was there? 
Yes, submission of the most oppressive and aggravating 
character ! — submission to a military despotism ! — sub- 
mission, not to the Constitution of the United States, 
but to secession. 

20 



338 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" Is it not strange that men will croak and croak about 
submission, and the degradation of submission, while 
they themselves are trying to browbeat and force all 
others to submit to their own lordly dictations, and 
while at the same time they are themselves submitting 
to the disobedience and insubordination of their own 
negroes ? "We say that Virginians have submitted long 
enough to the oppression and tyranny of petty despots, 
and it is now time for men who wish to be free to rise 
up and assert and maintain their rights. 

" If the citizens of Virginia were unanimously in favor 
of secession, why do they go into the army with so 
much reluctance ? If every Southern man is to be left 
dead on the battle-field unless the South obtain her in- 
dependence, why is it that so many Southern men had 
to be forced into service by an act of conscription ? 
And why is it that so many desert from the army ? 
And why is it that men will lie in the woods day and 
night, and for weeks, to keep from being picked up by 
these military man-hunters and murderers ? These are 
questions and facts which should be duly considered by 
the people of Virginia. 

"And, finally, suppose the South should gain her in- 
dependence : what will become of the poor old deso- 
lated Dominion, Virginia ? Her sons dead, her territory 
laid waste, her cities, towns, and villages demolished, 
the navigation of her rivers obstructed, her vessels all 
burned and destroyed, her horses and stock of all kinds 
used up, killed up, and taken away, her farms left bar- 
ren, her schools and colleges all broken up, her negroes 
all gone, her citizens all in debt, the whole State bank- 
rupt, — all, all left in one common wreck and ruin ! We 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 339 

would earnestly beseech and entreat our fellow-citizens 
to look into and think seriously on this terribly black 
picture before all is lost, and lost forever." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 
27, 1862, we published the following editorial : — 

"THREE UNION PRISONERS HUNG IN RICHMOND. 

" We clip the following paragraph from an exchange : — 
' Two weeks ago Jeff Davis had seven hundred and fifty 
loyal citizens of Virginia in his Castle Godwin and Carey 
Street prisons, in Richmond. Every hour was adding 
to the number, as it was but necessary for one to ex- 
press a doubt of the immaculateness of the Confederate 
Government to be denounced, arrested, and sent down 
to Richmond. Three of these prisoners were recently 
taken out and hung without judge or jury.' 

" The above may all be true, or it may not. There 
may be seven hundred and fifty loyal citizens of Vir- 
ginia in prison in Richmond, or there may not. Three 
may have been hung without judge or jury, or they 
may not. Be all this as it may, we are convinced that 
many of the so-called friends of the Southern Con- 
federacy have done great injury to the success of the 
Southern cause. 

" It is, and has been, very annoying to gentlemen, 
good and loyal citizens, to have a set of brainless, 
irresponsible, worthless, wicked, lying men, and a class 



340 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

of God-forsaken old viragoes, tattling, lying, and mis- 
representing them to strangers at every corner of the 
streets and in every circle into which their low position 
in society may admit them. That this has been the case 
is well known to many of the citizens in this town and 
in the surrounding country. And men, too, are en- 
gaged in this low, dirty, slanderous work, who boast 
of being the noble ones whose 

' ancient though ignoble blood 
Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood.' 

Yes, these men have acted well their part in this infa- 
mous game of persecuting, proscribing, and ostracizing 
good and loyal citizens of Virginia. 

" For example : who were the accusers of Major 
Charles Williams ? Who were the judges by whom he 
was condemned? What was the crime of which he 
was accused ? What was the magnitude of his guilt ? 
Why do not his accusers come out openly and let the 
world know all about it ? It is high treason for one to 
eondemn secession : it is a crime for which he must be 
adjudged to imprisonment for months, and, may-be, 
for years. But it is no harm for a man to abuse and 
curse the purest form of human government the world 
has ever known. It is no harm to rise up against the 
regularly- constituted authorities of one's country and 
seek to overturn the Government which has protected 
him and all his sacred rights from his cradle to the 
present time. No : this is patriotic, this is secession- 
patriotism ! 

u To roam the country over and drag poor hard-work- 
ing laborers out of their beds and tear them away from 
their heart-broken wives and helpless children at the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 341 

dark and lonely hours of midnight, is manly, heroic, 
patriotic ; and for such deeds of chivalry, another and 
another degree of knighthood should be conferred upon 
the worthless names of the cowardly, unprincipled 
scoundrels engaged in this fiendish work. 

" Terrible threats have been and are constantly being 
made against some of the purest men and truest friends 
of the South that can be found in ah our country. 

" They are to be hung, shot, quartered, or forever ban- 
ished from their homes and country, and infamy, last- 
ing as time and eternity, is to be stamped on them and 
their children if secession succeeds and the Southern 
Confederacy triumphs. 

" Suppose, however, that secession should fail, and 
all the States are at last forced to let the ' Stars and 
Stripes' float over them : what then will become of our 
persecutors? As we hope to obtain mercy, we will 
show mercy to them on the condition that they will 
never again try to overturn the Government of our 
country to establish little petty monarchies for them- 
selves and their children. The wicked leaders ought 
to be punished commensurately with their crimes, and 
the common masses, who were ignorantly drawn' into 
this awful sink of treason by the cunning of their lead- 
ers, should, upon true repentance and returning to their 
loyalty, be pardoned. This would be magnanimous, 
patriotic, Christian." 



342 



THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 
27, 1862, we published the following editorials : — 

"CORRECTION. 

" Our attention has been called to an article in the 
'New York Tribune/ in which the correspondent says, 
'The Christian Banner' was suppressed by order of 
Jeff Davis. The editor's life has been threatened, and 
Ms property destroyed. 

"We have italicized the words 'by order of Jeff 
Davis,' and 'his property destroyed,' because they 
were underscored when the paper was sent to us. "We 
did not discontinue the publication of the 'Christian 
Banner' 'by order of Jeff Davis.' Had we continued 
to advocate the Union longer than we did, an armed 
mob would have suppressed it. This we knew, and 
of this we were admonished frequently and long before 
we did discontinue its publication. 'And his property 
destroyed.' Our property was not destroyed directly; 
our business, it is true, was all broken up, and we shall 
lose the most of our hard earnings for the last several 
years ; yet our property was not destroyed by order of 
Jeff Davis. 

" We make this correction, because we would not do 
injustice, if we knew it, to any human being on earth, 
not even to the devil himself, nor yet to the hideous 
monster secession. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 343 

"Secession is the concentration of all curses, social, 
civil, political, and religious. That we have been 
under the ban of secession proscription for the last 
twelve months is a well-known fact. That our arrest 
has been threatened time and again, we presume none 
will deny. That our life has been and still is threat- 
ened, is a fact equally well known. And what is our 
offence? Simply that we love the South and hate 
secession, and expose the villanies of the political 
scoundrels who have forced secession, with all its con- 
comitant evils and horrors, upon us. Men may threaten 
our life now, and thirst for our blood, and talk of 
driving us and all other Union men out of Virginia 
and out of the whole South; but they had better look 
into the future a little ; for in less time than five years 
secession will stink in the very nostrils of Virginians, 
and the leaders who have forced it upon us will receive 
the execrations of all good and intelligent citizens." 



CHAPTER XV. 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HON. E. M. STANTON VISIT 
FREDERICKSBURG. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 
27, 1862, we published the following editorial:— 

"President Lincoln and Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, 
Secretary of War, visited Fredericksburg on last Fri- 
day, the 23d instant (May). They rode in a carriage 
drawn by four fine iron-gray horses. They crossed 



344 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the Rappahannock River on the canal-boat bridge, and 
passed up Princess Anne Street to the Farmer's Bank, 
the head-quarters of General Patrick, where the car- 
riage stopped about five minutes, and then moved off, 
as we were informed, to visit some camp of soldiers out 
of the town. A large escort accompanied the distin- 
guished visitors. There were no demonstrations of joy, 
however, from any of the citizens. If they were met 
by the Honorable Mayor and Common Council, we have 
not learned the fact. 

" Last winter Jeff Davis, President of the Southern 
Confederacy, visited Fredericksburg, and but few de- 
monstrations of joy were manifested on the occasion. 
The citizens of Fredericksburg seem to have very 
little partiality for Presidents. Thus pass away the 
glories of this world. On the 23d day of May, 1861, 
Virginia is said to have seceded; on the 23d day of 
May, 1862, President Lincoln visited Fredericksburg." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of May 
20, 1862, we published the following editorial : — 

"VIRGINIA THE BATTLE-FIELD. 

' fr Is it not strange that Virginians are so totally 
blinded to their own interests as to have suffered 
themselves to be imposed upon as they have been by 
the shrewd political leaders of the Gulf States? Be- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 345 

fore this war commenced, we predicted that Virginia 
would be the great battle-field of this wicked revolu- 
tion, and repeatedly said that, if the Gulf States had 
been geographically located as Virginia was, they 
would never have seceded. The people of the Gulf 
States knew that Virginia and all the border States 
would be a bastion, a mighty bulwark of defence, be- 
tween themselves and the enemy. They had never 
supposed that the war would be carried into their own 
territories. No : this was not their calculation. 

"When the Southern soldiers came into Virginia 
and to Fredericksburg last spring, twelve months ago, 
they said that they had come to defend the soil of 
Virginia. This we regarded as an insult to the in- 
telligence of Virginians, — a solemn mockery. They 
came to meet the enemy on Virginia soil, to keep him 
off their own soil and out of their own territories. 
This we knew, and the leaders of this revolution in the 
cotton and sugar States knew the same thing; and 
yet it was considered treasonable for any one openly 
to express such an opinion. Let any one now take a 
calm survey of the territorial boundaries of Virginia, 
and then say that our predictions were not correct to 
the very letter ! 

" At least two- thirds of her beautiful territory are 
in the actual possession of the Federal Government, 
while the small portion of Eastern Virginia which is 
not yet invaded, and in the centre of which stand the 
capital of the State and the capital of the Confederate 
States, is completely environed, pent up between two 
powerful armies advancing on each other, and still 
there are those in our midst, professing to be wise, 
who say, ' We'll whip them off of every inch of Vir- 



346 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

ginia soil, and make them rue the day they ever set 
their feet upon it.' 

" If there were the shade of the shadow of a reason 
for such a conclusion as this, then these persons might 
talk and be listened to, and be respected by men of com- 
mon sense. But, when we take into consideration the 
fact that the whole of the border of Eastern Virginia 
from the mountains to the Chesapeake Bay and round 
to Suffolk, including the cities and towns of Norfolk, 
Portsmouth, Williamsburg, Yorktown, Hampton, Fort- 
ress Monroe, Alexandria, Fredericksburg, and Suffolk, 
(to say nothing of Winchester, and the whole territory 
of Northwestern and the mountain-regions of Vir- 
ginia,) are all in the actual possession of the. Federal 
army, what foundation is there upon which any sane 
man can possibly build the shadow of a hope for the 
retaking, reholding, and repossessing ' every inch of 
Virginia territory' ? 

" It was confidently affirmed by the professedly know- 
ing ones in our community, until within a few weeks, 
that the Federal army never would nor could get 
into Fredericksburg; and, if men dared to express a 
contrary opinion, they were ruled out of treasonable 
and ' decent society,' as traitors, Abolitionists, and black- 
hearted submissionists. 

" We have always argued that it is much easier to 
keep an armed enemy out of our house, than to give 
him possession and afterwards whip him out and 
keep him out. Twelve months ago, the Confederate 
army was fresh and buoyant with the hope of driving 
submissionists and all Yankees out of Virginia and 
of keeping them off her territory. If the Southern 
army, with Beauregard, Lee, Johnson, Floyd, Wise, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 347 

and a host of others to lead it on, with all their muni- 
tions of war, commissary stores, strong fortifications, 
railroads, &c. &c, were not able to keep the enemy 
from advancing into the interior of our State, how can 
they expect, or even hope, now, since they have de- 
stroyed railroads, burned railroad-bridges, demolished 
towns, committed to the flames millions of dollars' 
worth of commissary stores, spiked and abandoned 
hundreds of their best and largest cannons, evacuated 
and forsaken their strong fortifications, committed to 
the flames millions of dollars' worth of cotton, and 
wellnigh all their navy, and, finally, with an army of 
conscript soldiers, to drive the Federal troops off 
every inch of Virginia territory, retake, repossess, and 
rehold it? The idea is absurd! And when we try to 
get our fellow-citizens to reason on the subject, and 
lay facts before them which are as plain as Heaven's 
own light, we are insulted and treated with the utmost 
indignity and contempt. 

"With what heart can men fight who have been 
forced, literally dragged from their business, their 
homes, their wives and children, their fathers and 
mothers, their brothers and sisters, their friends, and 
all that is dear to them, to go away down South to 
fight and to defend the negroes and cotton and sugar 
plantations of those wicked politicians who have forced 
this common ruin upon us all, while they themselves 
are living at their ease, rolling in splendor and luxury 
at home, and would consider themselves degraded by 
association with the poor soldier with his knapsack on 
his back and his musket on his shoulder, and would 
scorn to permit him to sit and eat at their elegantly- 
furnished and sumptuous tables ? 



348 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"Think of the many precious lives that have been 
lost in Western Virginia, on the plains of Manassas, at 
Yorktown, at Williamsburg ; think of the bloody battle 
that is to be fought near Richmond, together with the 
great anticipated battle or battles that will take place 
in a few days at some point between Fredericksburg 
and Richmond. (This battle was fought in Culpepper 
county, and at Bull Run, or in that vicinity.) How 
many precious, undying souls are to be dashed in a 
moment into eternity, and perhaps without any pre- 
paration to meet their final Judge ! And, still, preachers, 
and communicants at the altar of the peaceful Jesus, 
parents, fathers and mothers, wives, brothers and 
sisters, condemn the man who dares to expose the 
wickedness of the leaders and tries to save their hus- 
bands and sons from ruin. The Lord have mercy upon 
the wicked stupidity of mortals ! 

" 'Tis strange that things are so ; but so they are, and 
it seems that there are certain cliques and parties which 
are determined that things shall thus go on, until our 
whole State is desolated and our children and friends 
are all sacrificed. 

"Look at the desolation of all the counties between 
the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, — at the condi- 
tion of the country from Hampton to Richmond, — at 
the condition of the country from Fredericksburg to 
the Blue Ridge; and what will be the condition of 
the country from Fredericksburg to Richmond, when 
this war shall have closed? Desolation and one common 
ruin meet the eye of the beholder at every point. 
Nevertheless, in the face of all these facts, there are 
those who talk and enter into wild speculations as to 
the course to be pursued, and what must be done, and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 349 

what shall be done ; and, unless all others submit to 
their dictations and mandates, they are ruled out as 
traitors, Abolitionists, submissionists, and are marked, 
spotted, proscribed, ostracized, as men who ought to 
be driven out of the country, or hung, and who will be, 
when the time comes. 

"In conclusion, we venture the prediction that every 
foot of territory embraced within the boundary-lines 
of Virginia when she seceded will again be brought 
back into the Union. 

"This is only a question of time. Mark the predic- 
tion !" 



CHAPTER XVII. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of May 
31, 1862, we published the following editorial: — 

"AFRICAN SLAVERY. 

" The fact can be no longer disguised : let this war 
result as it may, African slavery in Virginia is already 
virtually swept from her territory. If she would lay 
down her arms and return to the Union, her citizens 
might receive some remuneration for their servants 
from the Government, if the State would adopt a sys- 
tem of gradual emancipation. But, unless this action 
is taken by Virginia, and that speedily, the slave 
population of the State will, in a few years, under the 
most favorable circumstances which can possibly be 
conceived, all be free. It requires no prophetic eye to 
see that this will be inevitable. 

30 



350 



THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



" In fact, if the war should continue in Virginia twelve 
months or two years longer, there will be scarcely a 
slave in the whole State. Nor is this all. There will be 
but very few of the sons of Virginia left, to read and 
relate the history of her woes, after the war shall have 
closed. 

" Is it possible that Virginians are so utterly blinded 
and prejudiced as to be willing to sacrifice their chil- 
dren, their whole State, and every thing that is' near 
and dear to a true patriot, for no holier purpose than 
to try to establish a negro-oligarchy in the Gulf States? 
And are the poorer classes of the people so profoundly 
ignorant as not to see that the establishment of such a 
government would inevitably and forever seal their 
own religious, social, and political degradation ? 

"Great God! What white man, what freeman, 
what American citizen, can tamely, meanly, and cow- 
ardly submit to become the dupe of a system so 
shockingly revolting to all the finer and nobler instincts 
of free-born American citizens ? 

"We are sorry that matters are brought to this 
issue. But we faithfully warned our fellow-citizens of 
the fearful results of secession, and they laughed at 
our admonitions, and classed us with Abolitionists, 
submissionists, and traitors. We now solemnly ask 
the question, who are right in this matter ? Secession- 
ists said that secession would establish African slavery 
on a sure and immovable foundation, — that slave 
property in Virginia would advance at least one hun- 
dred per cent. We said that the day Virginia seceded, 
slavery in Virginia was virtually abolished. Let facts 
decide who were and are the true friends of Virginia 
and the South, — secessionists, or the ' Christian Banner' 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 351 

and the Union men of the South. And still, with all 
these facts staring them full in the face, men affect to 
treat us with scorn and contempt, and threaten us with 
terrible punishment, simply because we tried to save 
them from ruin, and because they have lived to prove 
themselves false prophets and the scourge of Virginia 
and the whole South. 

" The idea that the owners will receive pay for all 
their servants who make their escape from the seceded 
States during the war, is supremely absurd. Who 
will pay for them ? The Federal Government ? Not 
one dollar ! The Southern Confederacy ? This is ab- 
surd. The fact is, those who have lost or who may 
hereafter lose their servants may just prepare them- 
selves for the very worst." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of June 
7, 1862, we published the following editorials : — 

" COERCION. 

" When the secessionists commenced their wild career 
of madness, they most solemnly protested against the 
principle of coercion. They affected to deeply deplore 
the breaking up of the country and the downfall of 
our Government, but most earnestly and constantly 
deprecated coercion. No sooner was it ascertained, 
however, that forty-five counties in Western Virginia 
had determined to remain in the Union, than secession- 



352 THE CONSPIHACY UNVEILED. 

ists ignored their own doctrine, and resolved to coerce 
these counties out of the Union and force them into 
the Southern Confederacy. Generals Lee, Floyd, Wise, 
and others were sent to coerce them into submission to 
the Confederate Government ; with what success, how- 
ever, is well known to the American people. 

" If South Carolina, or seven States, had the legiti- 
mate right to secede from the Federal Government, 
contrary to the wishes and interests of all the other 
States in the Union, by a parity of reasoning, had 
not the counties in Western Virginia the legitimate 
right to secede from the remaining portion of the 
territory of Virginia? The Federal Government is 
composed of all the States and Territories in the Union, 
and Virginia is composed of all the counties embraced 
within her geographical boundaries; hence, if one State 
or seven States had the constitutional right uncon- 
ditionally to secede from the Federal Government, any 
one county or any number of counties in any State 
has the constitutional right unconditionally to secede 
from that State. 

" The example being set, and the precedent approved 
and established, the whole country at once becomes 
disintegrated, and the Southern Confederacy has not 
the shadow of security for her permanency and dura- 
tion, even if she should gain her independence. The 
only homogeneous institution existing in Virginia 
and the Gulf States calculated to bind and keep them 
together is the institution of African slavery. That 
Virginia will sooner or later become a free State cannot 
certainly be any longer questioned by any one capable 
of observation and reasoning upon the plainest common- 
sense principles. Facts are now constantly being 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 



353 



developed which must convince the most obtuse and 
prejudiced mind that Virginia will certainly become a 
free State. 

" Secession was the death-stroke to slavery in Vir- 
ginia ; and men may bite their lips and make their 
threats, and abuse Union men, as they may, they can 
never make the world believe but what they them- 
selves have brought the ruin upon their own heads. 
They have done it. Every cause must and will pro- 
duce its legitimate effect. Secession produced revolution 
and civil war ; and revolution and civil war will produce 
the abolition of African slavery at least, and certainly, in 
Virginia, and we confidently believe that it will finally 
produce it throughout the whole South. It may exist 
nominally in the Gulf States for a number of years, but 
the end must and will come. This by the way. 

"Did not secessionists ignore their own principles 
when they tried to force their army into the State of 
Maryland for the avowed purpose of coercing her out 
of the Union and of forcing her into the Southern 
Confederacy? Did they not ignore their own prin- 
ciples when they tried to coerce Kentucky and Mis- 
souri out of the Union, and actually declared to the 
world that both these States had seceded and had 
joined the Southern Confederacy? Strange consistency ! 
No, reader : the fact is this. 

" A party of leaders seize the public arms and arm 
themselves to the very teeth, and, thus armed, force or 
coerce the unarmed masses of the people to submit to 
their lordly behests. And when the properly-consti- 
tuted authorities of the country attempt to carry out 
the laws, according to the Constitution and according 
to their sworn obligations, these leaders raise the 



30* 



354 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

hue and cry, 'There must be no coercion:' when to 
force or coerce all others is the constant, systematic 
labor and course of their lives. Secession leaders are 
the men who inaugurated the system of coercion, and 
they are determined to keep it up until they coerce and 
force out and kill out every poor man in the South- 
ern Confederacy, to save themselves from infamy and 
death." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

"COLORED POPULATION OF FREDERICKSBURG. 

" The colored population of Fredericksburg for the 
most part are strolling about town, looking on at the 
wonders of creation, careless and indifferent as to the 
future, and seem to be perfectly happy. We learn that 
some of them who have left their owners have rented 
rooms and set up for themselves. Being set free, as 
they think, they are going to get rich and grow fat. 
Deplorable state of anarchy and confusion ! 

" What a contrast, between the feelings of the colored 
and white population of Fredericksburg ! — the former, 
to all human appearance, perfectly happy ; the latter 
with painful, bleeding hearts, with all the anxiety and 
deep-toned feelings that can possibly press upon the 
hearts of parents, wives, children, brothers, sisters, 
relatives, and friends crushed to earth. Terrible 
thought ! — our country ruined, our children, relatives, 
and friends butchered and slaughtered up worse than 
beeves in a slaughter-pen, and all on account of the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 355 

negroes ! Yes, all on account of the negroes. This is 
a fact. God Almighty knows it, and the world knows 
it. Can it be possible that men are willing to sacrifice 
their country, their children, and all earthly happiness 
for the negro ? Oh, what blindness ! what madness I" — 
Christian Banner, June 7, 1862. 



CHAPTER XX. 



In the number of the "Christian Banner" of June 
14, 1862, we published the following editorials : — 

"NEGRO LOYALTY. 

" The stampede of contrabands continues unabated. 
On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday last we suppose 
that hundreds came into town seeking the land of 
freedom. Curiosity induced us to ask some of them 
from what sections they came, to whom they belonged, 
for what cause they had left their masters, where they 
purposed going, and what they intended to do. Some 
had come from Caroline county, some from Spott- 
sylvania, others from Louisa, &c. &c. Some had \ bad 
masters,' others 'wanted to be free,' and one woman 
said she had left her master ' to get shet of trouble/ 
Some were going to the ' Norf,' and others wanted to 
see their l kinsfolks in town,' while others wanted 'to 
get work anywhere' they could. And here they are, 
strolling through the town and country, unprotected, 
uncared for, homeless, penniless, and friendless, not 



356 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

knowing where to go, what to do, nor what is to be- 
come of them. 

" Before Virginia seceded, and for some time after- 
wards, the impression seemed to be general and popu- 
lar among secessionists that the negroes would all 
prove loyal, that they would take up arms, and, if 
necessary, die for their masters ; that the slave-popula- 
tion of the South was one great and reliable element by 
which the Southern Confederacy was to prove suc- 
cessful. 

"We never had any confidence in the loyalty of 
negroes to their masters, as a general rule. There may 
be a few isolated exceptions, but in the winding up of 
this war it will be found that these exceptions are few 
and far between. We faithfully and constantly warned 
our fellow- citizens of the danger and certainty of bring- 
ing Canada not only to our doors, but into our very 
midst. Secessionists laughed at our admonitions, and 
reproached us as being one of the crazy ones of the 
Lincolnite submissionists who left ' their slime behind 
them as they walk the streets of Fredericksburg.' 
They foolishly talked of the law of retaliation ; that 
' if the Yankees take our negroes we will take their 
horses, cows, and hogs,' &c. &c. Such were the 
absurd ideas of oratorical, logical, philosophical seces- 
sionists. 

" We went further still, and warned our fellow-citizens 
that, if matters were carried to extremes, the black 
man would lift his arm against the white man, and that 
the time would come when the farther white men could 
get from the negroes the safer and better they would 
feel. We warned secessionists of all these and many 
other evils which would necessarily result from their 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 357 

course of action, for all which we received nothing in 
return from them but continual reproaches. 

"And now we warn our fellow-citizens of greater 
evils than any that have yet befallen us, and would 
implore them, for their own sakes, and for the sake of 
helpless women and children, who in many instances, 
and especially in the country, are entirely unprotected, 
to act with all the wisdom, prudence, and discretion 
of which they are possibly capable. Will they do so, 
or will they not ? Stubbornness, rashness, and madness 
can effect nothing now but one common slaughter. 
Facts and circumstances which occur every hour in our 
midst must certainly convince all of the utter disloyalty 
of the slave population of our country. Let us, there- 
fore, beware as to 'the future. A word to the wise is 
sufficient; but fools can never be profited but by the 
bitterest experience. The loss of the value in property 
of the negroes is nothing in comparison to the hor- 
rible evils which may yet visit our distressed country- 
men. Beware! Beware!" 



CHAPTER XXI. 

"THEN AND NOW. 



"Eighteen months ago the leaders of secession 
strained every nerve, and moved every power of earth 
of which they were capable, to carry out their deep- 
laid plans of treason against the South and the Federal 
Government. Vociferous orators, of whom there were 
many and of various intellectual gradations, foamed, 



358 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

raved, and ranted, denouncing the ' Flag' of the Union 
as an execrated thing, only fit to trail in the dust and 
to be trampled under foot, swearing that the accursed 
thing should never wave over them again, and that 
unless Virginia seceded there would be a great stam- 
pede of her noblest sons down South; that they would 
never live under the Lincoln Government; that they 
would 'root for their living among the rocks and 
dens and caverns of the mountains and woods,' before 
they would ever submit to ' Black Republican rule;' 
they would ' face the cannon's mouth, and wade in blood 
up to their necks;' Jeff Davis was their President, 
around his standard they would rally, and under his 
banner they would march. The ' Flag' of the Union, 
the Constitution, the incoming Administration, and the 
Federal Government, were constantly and most un- 
qualifiedly denounced in the strongest possible terms 
by them. They denounced men who advocated the 
cause of the Union as traitors to the South, — Black 
Republicans, cowardly submissionists, mean Abolition 
Lincolnites, who left their ' slime behind them as they 
walked the streets of Fredericksburg.' They resorted 
to every measure of political Jesuitism to inveigle 
everybody into the secession noose, knowing that if 
they could once get them committed they could easily 
produce strangulation and choke them politically to 
death. These are facts, and the people in this commu- 
nity know them to be facts, and we suppose that no 
one is reckless enough to deny them. This is the way 
things were then. 

"Now we are told that Fredericksburg is a unit on 
the odious doctrine or idea of secession; that there 
may be a few Union-shriekers, but they are men of no 



. THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 359 

reputation, having no standing in the community; that 
they are the very dregs of society, and therefore are 
not worthy of being considered as any opposition what- 
ever to the secession party. 

"By these means the rampant secessionists are trying 
now to brow-beat and keep the friends of the Union in 
servile subjection to themselves and to their influence. 
Threats are being made of driving Union men out of 
town, of hanging them, shooting them, &c. &c, when 
the Confederate army returns to Fredericksburg. In 
this way, 'we, the nobility,' expect to keep down, 
smother, and crush out the latent Union feeling that 
is still smouldering in the bosoms of the true, patriotic, 
Union men of Fredericksburg. 

" Will freemen ignobly submit to such vile asper- 
sions, insults, and indignities from men who can claim 
no higher superiority over them than that they 
possess a larger number of negroes, finer dwelling- 
houses, and more acres of land? Will freemen forever 
cower before a negro-aristocracy ? Will they always 
succumb to the winks and blinks of a set of designing, 
unprincipled, political pettifoggers ? Will freemen for- 
ever remain in a state of passive obedience to the will 
and dictates of a set of old, broken-down, aristocratic 
fogies? We trust in God that the time will come, and 
is not far distant, when respectability and position in 
society will not be based upon negroism, but upon true 
merit and genuine worth." — Christian Banner, June 
14, 1862. 



360 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

"THE GREAT BATTLES NEAR RICHMOND. 

" According to all accounts received of the great 
battles near Richmond, Va., on the 1st, 2d, &c. in- 
stant, the carnage was great and the loss of life was 
terrible on both sides. The most fertile imagination 
can never fully picture the horrors of that scene. 
Thousands upon thousands of the dead, dying, and 
wounded lay commingled upon the battle-field. All 
ranks and conditions, from generals down to the hum- 
blest private, the rich and poor, the high and low, the 
learned and unlearned, find a common level on the 
battle-ground. But the sad story of sorrow and suffer- 
ing ends not there. A nation's eye is turned to that 
fatal spot, and a nation's heart is made to bleed. Wives 
are made widows, children are made orphans, and pa- 
rents are deprived of the hope and stay of life in their 
declining years. Truly has the territory of Virginia 
become a common battle-field, and her sacred soil a 
common burying-ground. All, all to gratify the un- 
holy ambition of ungodly, disappointed demagogues!" 
— Christian Banner, June 14, 1862. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 361 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

"GETTING OUR RIGHTS. 

" Many of the humble poor who never owned a 
negro in all their lives, and perhaps never would, if they 
were to live to be one hundred years old, were the 
loudest in huzzaing at the downfall of their country, 
and the most vociferous in clamoring for ' our rights,' 
while the great struggle between the Unionists and 
secessionists was raging in Fredericksburg and in Vir- 
ginia eighteen months ago. We were forcibly reminded 
of this the other day, when, walking down street, we 
happened to fall in with a man who remarked, ' Times 
are awful hard : poor people can't get any work to do. 
They can't get any thing to live on. What do you 
think of it?' We simply remarked, 'We are getting 
our rights,' and passed on. ' We want our rights ; 
we must have our rights ; we will fight for our rights!' 
was the cry at every corner of the streets, — when no one 
had troubled their rights in any respect whatever, and 
they were protected by the Government in every right 
they could claim or ever had. 

" The leaders harangued the people, — told them of a 
thousand imaginary rights which were perilled, — that 
secession was the only security for holding on to their 
rights, — that secession would multiply their rights a 
hundredfold; and, verily, the poor, ignorant people 
thought it was all true, and, thus duped by their 
wicked, infernal leaders, they were swindled out of 

31 



362 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

and surrendered up all the rights they ever had or 
could possibly claim. Now they see it and feel it. 
They are now getting their rights." — Christian Banner, 
June 14, 1862. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

GOD WILL PROSPER THE RIGHT. 

" Before the inauguration of the present war, and 
long after it had commenced, we were repeatedly told 
that, if the Southern Confederacy were right, she 
would certainly succeed; but if she were wrong, the 
Federal party would triumph : that God would prosper 
the party that was in the right. If, therefore, the 
Federal Government should succeed, are these same 
persons willing to return to the Union and prove loyal 
to the Federal Government? If they are not and do 
not, then they will ignore the confidence which they 
professed to have in God, and will, to all intents and 
purposes, prove themselves to be infidels, as well as 
traitors to the South and to their country. To whom, 
then, can they look for mercy or help? European 
powers will not, in our humble opinion, recognize 
them; 'King Cotton' has proved impotent to save them; 
and if they continue to spurn the Federal Govern- 
ment, where can they go, and what will they do ? 

" These are questions which demand the serious con- 
sideration of all thinking people in the Southern Con- 
federacy, and of all secessionists out of it." — Christian 
Banner, June 14, 1862. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 363 

CHAPTER XXV. 

"A NEW ERA WILL DAWN UPON THE OLD DOMINION. 

" The present war is going to produce a general up- 
heaving, turning-over, and a complete revolution, of all 
things in Fredericksburg and throughout the whole 
State of Virginia, — in society, institutions, politics, 
morals, literature, science, agriculture, mechanics, 
manufactures, and religion : so that within at least ten 
years after the conclusion of this ungodly war the 
whole appearance of things in Fredericksburg and all 
Virginia will be completely changed from what it was 
when the war began. A new era will dawn upon the 
Old Dominion, and she will ultimately become one of 
the most wealthy, intellectual, and densely populated 
States in the whole Union. We may not live to see it, 
but others will."— Christian Banner, June 14, 1862. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of June 
18, 1862, we published the following editorial : — 

"THE PRESENT ASPECT OF AFFAIRS. 

"What can Virginians promise themselves under 
the present aspect of affairs, unless they renounce 



364 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

their rebellion, return to the Union, and become loyal 
to the Federal Government ? Agricultural operations 
to a great extent, are neglected, and in many sections 
of Virginia where, a year past, thousands of bushels of 
wheat and corn, &c. &c, were raised, nothing at all is 
now being produced. Negroes are leaving from almost 
every part of the State, — which seriously diminishes 
the amount of labor hitherto bestowed on agriculture. 
Thousands on thousands of the laboring-class of the 
white male population of the State have been forced 
into the army, and their small farms are, consequently, 
neglected; and even in sections where there are no 
armies the state of excitement is such, and the scarcity 
of labor is so great, that comparatively little produce 
can, possibly, be raised in the State; while very 
nearly the whole army of the Southern Confederacy is 
encamped within the territory of Virginia, and must 
be supported. 

" The money currency of the Southern Confederacy 
is comparatively valueless outside of the lines of the 
Confederate army. Suppose that soldiers in the South- 
ern army who have families within the lines of the 
Federal army could send the money they receive to 
their families : it would answer no valuable purpose 
whatever, because they cannot purchase such articles 
with it as they need. It is well known that Southern 
soldiers are paid off in Southern money, and that, 
too, for the most part, in Confederate notes. There- 
fore, these notes, even if suffering families and desti- 
tute persons could obtain them, would profit them 
little outside of the Southern Confederacy. It requires 
no argument to prove the correctness of this remark : 
facts prove it to be true beyond contradiction. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 365 

u In Fredericksburg, for example, there are thousands 
upon thousands of dollars' worth of Confederate notes ; 
and yet the holders of these notes cannot use them for 
any valuable purpose, because Federal merchants in 
Fredericksburg refuse to take them, for the simple 
reason that they can make no valuable disposition of 
them at the North. The question then naturally 
arises, what is to become of families who are destitute 
of the necessaries of life, having no means to obtain 
them, and whose husbands and sons, being in the army, 
are not able to provide for them ? 

"Under ordinary circumstances, this would be a 
rather unpleasant picture to contemplate; but, under 
present circumstances, the aspect of affairs is absolutely 
alarming. Just let any one reflect for a single moment, 
and common sense must teach him that the poor fami- 
lies of soldiers who are in the Confederate army are 
in a most terribly awful condition. Very nearly the 
whole country which has been forsaken by the Con- 
federate army is left bare and desolate. Stock, and 
all kinds of provisions, to a very considerable extent, 
were taken for the support of the army. In many 
sections of the country, fencing has been totally de- 
stroyed, horses, oxen, and wagons have been pressed 
into service, and thousands of women and children 
have been left destitute, with no one to attend to 
farming-operations. What is to become of these 
families of forsaken, destitute women and children? 
Under the most favorable circumstances in which we 
can possibly view this subject, these families must 
suffer. It cannot be otherwise. And even if they had 
the means with which to purchase, the goods are not in 
the country to be had for any price or for any kind of 

31* 



366 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

currency. This is no fancy sketch. Stern realities 
speak in tones of thunder, warning men everywhere to 
return to their God, their country, and their duty 
before famine and death prove their ruin. 

" True, this is a fearful picture to men of wealth, as 
well as to the poorer classes. Say they, 'We have 
sold our goods and our produce, and most of our money 
consists of Confederate notes, and our negroes are 
leaving us, and we cannot use our money, and we are 
making nothing and doing nothing; and, unless the 
South succeeds and gains her independence, we shall 
lose all we have, and will be reduced to a state of com- 
parative poverty, — to which we cannot submit. The 
/South will — the South must — conquer. 1 

" The fact is, the South can never conquer. It is 
trifling with the feelings of an injured and outraged 
people to talk about 'the darkest hour being just 
before day.' There never has, in our humble opinion, 
been but one dark hour to the South ; and that hour 
began when the 'flag' of our country was insulted at 
Charleston, South Carolina, on the 12th day of April, 
1861; and that dark hour will never end until the 
South lays down her arms and returns again into the 
Union. The longer she holds out, the darker and 
darker the hour will become, until it shall condense 
into Egyptian darkness, that can and will be felt. 

" What chance is there for the bursting out of light 
on the Southern Confederacy? Let us see. 

" The whole fighting population of the South, by the 
conscription law, has been forced into the Southern 
army. When, therefore, the Confederate army which 
is now in the field shall have been diminished by fight- 
ing and disease to an inconsiderable number, where will 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 367 

the men come from to reorganize another Southern 
army ? The men are not in the South : there- 
fore the South can never raise another considerable 
army. The most of the Southern army is now cooped 
up in and around Richmond, and evidently the greater 
part of the Confederate force is in Virginia. How 
can that army be sustained there during the summer, 
fall, and the next winter, — even supposing Richmond 
cannot be taken by the Federal forces? Where are 
all the supplies to come from to support two hundred 
and fifty thousand soldiers, and all the horses, — to say 
nothing about the citizens, and the thousands of negroes 
that have been sent from different parts of Virginia to 
Richmond for protection? Suppose they have corn 
and flour in abundance to last them for so long a period, 
(which we very much question:) where and how can 
they obtain meat, salt, and clothing for such a vast 
number of men? The soldiers, citizens, and negroes 
must all have something to eat and wear, or else they 
must starve. The horses and oxen must all be fed, or 
they will die. The blockade is complete, and resources 
for supplies are nearly all cut off. How then, we ask, 
can the great army in Richmond be sustained for ten 
or twelve months longer, unless supplies can be ob- 
tained elsewhere than from Virginia and from the 
South ? It cannot be ! The truth is, every hour the 
South continues in arms, the worse it will be for her ; 
and time will prove it so. 

11 Suppose that another terrific battle should be fought 
at Richmond, and that McClellan's whole army should 
be demolished : would the United States Government 
give up the contest and acknowledge the independence 
of the South ? We do not believe a word of it. Soon 



368 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

another army would be organized, and the war would 
still go on, and would be prosecuted with greater vigor 
than ever. A grand and signal defeat of the Federal 
army would only prolong the war, and especially in 
Virginia. 

"Secession is as much like the devil as the devil is 
like himself: the more you try to compromise it, the 
more devil it is. This is the character of secession, — 
always has been, now is, and so it will be to the end of 
time." — Christian Banner. 

"The average number of contrabands constantly com- 
ing into Fredericksburg we would suppose to be at 
least two hundred per day ; and the number seems to 
be rapidly on the increase. This is emancipation with 
a vengeance ! At this rate, how long will it take Vir- 
ginia to become a free State ? Let the leaders of seces- 
sion answer the question. For this they worked by 
day and night ; for this they lied with all their might ; 
and now, verily, they are reaping the reward of their 
labor." — Christian Banner, June 18, 1862. 

" If certain characters (secessionists, we mean, and 
some few others, if you please) could be bought for their 
legitimate worth and sold for their own imaginary 
worth, heavens ! what grand speculations could be 
made ! What do you think of that, reader?" — Christian 
Banner, June 18, 1862. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 369 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

"NEGRO STAMPEDE. 

" The stampede of negroes continues with increased 
numbers. On last Thursday, one hundred and fifty- 
crossed over to the north side of the Rappahannock 
River. They are going, going, and will all soon be 
gone ! What do secession orators say now ? Why do 
they not make speeches now, delineating the beauties, 
glories, and excellencies of secession ? Where is the 
1 immovable foundation,' on which 'African slavery' 
is ' based' ? It is sliding away by degrees, and is be- 
coming wonderfully small and weak. 

" The leaders of secession are the men who ' ought to 
feel ashamed to hold up their heads as they walk the 
streets of Fredericksburg,' beholding their disloyal 
servants running at will. They are the men who feel 
and know, and their consciences force them to mentally 
exclaim, * This is the work of our own hands ; these are 
the blasted, withered fruits of our own unparalleled 
folly. We sowed the wind, and are reaping the whirl- 
wind. We are the true enemies of ourselves, the 
enemies of our fellow-citizens, of the South, of our 
country, and the enemies of our God.' 

" Yes, all this is the work of the demon secession; and 
secessionists feel it, and know it, and are drinking the 
cup of bitterness to its very dregs." — Christian Banner, 
June 24, 1862. 



370 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

"RING-LEADERS OF SECESSION. 

" The ringleaders in this secession rebellion will, when 
the tragical scenes shall have closed, become a proverb, 
a byword, and a hissing among all the nations of the 
civilized world. They shall be scattered to the four 
corners of the earth, and, like the old, hard-hearted 
Jews, shall be politically sold to their enemies for bond- 
men, and no man shall buy them. 

" Then it will be seen and acknowledged that the whole 
plot was conceived in iniquity, was conducted by a sys- 
tematic course of Dittany, and ended in irretrievable 
infamy. This is what we predicted when the rebellion 
began, and it is what we have believed ever since. And 
as certainly as every cause produces its legitimate effect, 
so it will come to pass. Union men have nothing to 
fear in the distant future. History and posterity will 
do them and their cause justice. Then it will also be 
seen that the Union men of the South were the only true 
friends of the South." — Christian Banner, June 24, 
1862. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of June 26, 
1862, we published the following editorials : — 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 371 



SUBJECTS FOR REFLECTION. 



"Superstition and credulity have acted well their 
part in working out the ruin of Virginia and the whole 
South. Many of the clergymen of the South, long be- 
fore the inauguration of the present war, were actively 
engaged in sowing the seeds of discord and contention 
and in firing up the Southern heart to deeds of daring 
rebellion against the Federal Government. That they 
handled this subject cautiously and ingeniously, yet, 
but too effectually, facts prove beyond contradiction. 

" Certain preachers itinerated all through the State of 
Virginia, delineating the ' glories of Southern Method- 
ism/ and hurling unmitigated anathemas against the 
' Northern Methodists' particularly, and the ' North- 
ern people' generally. They took ' the field,' politi- 
cians-like, and went from county to county, from village 
to village, from town to town, from city to city, and 
from one community to another, discussing the merits 
of African slavery, and begging money to endow their 
sectarian, Southern-Methodistic, pro-slavery colleges. 
Slavery ! Slavery ! Slavery ! and Money ! Money ! Mo- 
ney ! were the all-absorbing topics. Persons who hap- 
pened not to be of their peculiar cast of mind, and who 
refused to chime in with them, were placed under the 
ban of public censure, so far as their influence ex- 
tended. To listen to the pompous utterances of these 
little divinity, self-conceited, clerical coxcombs, one 
would infer that they firmly believed themselves to be 
the divinely-appointed guardians of the South and of 
the whole Southern people, and that no one was in- 
terested in the whole matter but themselves. They 
acquired popularity and found favor in the South be- 



372 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

cause of the peculiar denominational title which they 
assumed to take to themselves : ' The Southern Method- 
ist Church;' 'The Methodist Episcopal Church, South/ 
They seemed to think that the name ' Southern Me- 
thodist' was sufficient to place one above suspicion of 
being an Abolitionist, or of having any Northern pro- 
clivities whatever. 

" Their strong argument was, God was with them: 
God had blessed their labors ; God had added thousands 
and thousands to their numbers ; and their very fana- 
ticism and extravagance were passed off as emanations 
of the eternal divinity, or direct influences of the ' Holy 
Ghost.' 

" The hearts and minds of the Southern people being 
fired up by these divines, and by politicians acting in 
concert with them, it was an easy matter for them, 
when the war began, to attribute every seeming suc- 
cess to the direct interposition of Almighty God, and 
to induce the people to believe it. Hence, when the 
attack was made on Fort Sumter, and after the battle 
had been fought and no one was killed, the cry was, 
'God is with us;' 'God is fighting our battles for us;' 
' God directs the bullets.' After the fight at Acquia 
Creek, last spring was twelve months ago, and 'no- 
body got killed,' the cry was, 'God is fighting our 
battles.' 

" When portions of the Federal fleet stranded last year 
on the Carolina coasts, ' God had raised the winds and 
sent the storms for the express purpose of destroying 
the Yankee vessels.' After the Federal troops had 
rebuilt the railroad-bridge across the Rappahannock 
River at Fredericksburg, and the freshet came and 
washed it away, 'God sent the freshet to destroy 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 373 

the bridge.' 'Such doings can't prosper.' 'God will 
put a stop to it.' Again the bridge was rebuilt, and 
had been used only a day or two, when there came 
another freshet, at an unusual season of the year, and 
swept it away again. 'Surely this is the work of God.' 
'Don't you see?' ' Didn't we tell you so?' 'It can't 
prosper.' ' God is above the devil, thank the Lord.' 

" Now, let us examine this subject a little. If God 
was specially with either party in the beginning of this 
unholy war, and favored that party because it was in 
the right, why has he at any time suffered reverses to 
befall that party ? Has he not the wisdom to see, and 
the power to accomplish all his purposes ? Surely he 
has ! Why then is he constantly changing his pur- 
poses, — to-day with the Confederates, helping them, 
and to-morrow with the Federals, lending them a help- 
ing hand ! Really, we think it high time for the people 
to put a stop to all this nonsense about God being with 
this, that, or the other party, fighting their battles for 
them, &c. &c. "We consider it nothing more nor less 
than horrid blasphemy to make God Almighty a party 
to the wickedness of mortals. 

" If God raises the winds and sends the storms to wreck 
the Federal vessels, why does he not make a clean 
sweep of it, and sink them all at once, and have done 
with it ? If he sends the rains to raise the rivers to 
wash away their bridges, why does he not send the 
lightning and storm and kill them all in a body, and 
sweep them from the face of the earth in an instant ? 
Does he lack the power? If not, why this piece- 
meal work ? If Heaven be actually and specially en- 
gaged in fighting for the Southern Confederacy, why 
is all this running away of the darkies ? Could not 

32 



374 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

Providence put it into the minds and hearts of them all 
to remain at home and continue to work for their 
owners ? 

" The truth is, designing men have imposed upon the 
credulity of the ignorant and unsuspecting so long that 
they think they can gag and cram any and every ab- 
surdity down their throats, however ridiculous, and the 
common people, the masses, are bound to receive and 
swallow it all, as coming directly from the high and 
holy fountain of divine inspiration. There is a fearful 
responsibility resting on preachers, editors, politicians, 
and others in this fearful tragedy, the due weight of 
which has never been felt by them. But a day of ter- 
rible reckoning is at hand, when men shall call upon 
the rocks and mountains to fall upon them and hide 
them from impending wrath ; but it will then be too late. 

"That good may ultimately come out of this war, and 
order spring out of confusion, we do not question. The 
political, ecclesiastical, and moral world' have all be- 
come so abominably corrupt that war may be abso- 
lutely necessary to purify the elements. Men must be 
humbled for their sins and rebellion against Heaven. 
God permits men and nations to quarrel and fight, and 
to take one another's lives, and to destroy each other; 
but this is not the will of God. God is a God of love, 
peace, and order, and not a God of wrath, of confusion, 
of battles, blood, and carnage. 

" If an individual violate any one of the fixed laws of 
nature, he must and will suffer the penalty annexed to 
that law. If nations violate the laws of nature, hu- 
manity, and justice, they too must suffer for their crimes. 
This is cause and effect, and the effect can never finally 
cease until the cause is removed which produces it. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 375 

"Let men, then, cease to prate about Divine Provi- 
dence, about God's being with this, that, or the other 
party. The fact is, God is with and for but one party, 
and that is the good and right party, and that which 
is pure and holy and right and just God will bless 
and prosper, and nothing more; and for men whose 
minds and hearts are filled with vindictiveness, and 
every discordant and devilish passion, to prate about 
divine interposition, is folly, is wicked, is blasphemy. 

"The elements in the political, religious, social, and 
moral world are all in commotion, and the whole order 
of things is undergoing a complete revolution; old 
things are passing away, and all things are becoming 
new ; a great struggle is going on between the spirit 
of despotism on the one hand, and freedom on the other, 
between mind and institutionalism ; the great question 
is, shall despotism and institutionalism triumph over 
freedom and mind, or shall freedom and mind conquer 
despotism and institutionalism? This is the great, 
grand, and sublime problem now being solved. Let us, 
therefore, patiently wait the result; in the mean time, 
however, let us discharge our duty to God, to our 
country, and to our fellow-man, and trust to Heaven for 
mercy in the future. Reader, think on these things." 



CHAPTER XXX. 



PRACTICAL SECESSIONISTS. 



" On Wednesday (yesterday) one hundred and thirty 
contrabands left Fredericksburg, and crossed the Bap- 



376 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

pahannock River, going northward ; and this (Thurs- 
day) morning forty-four others, who came in town last 
night, were sent in the same direction. The whole of 
these one hundred and seventy-four contrabands are 
practical secessionists. Secession is taking to itself 
wings and flying away. This is secession, — practical 
secession, — the movable foundation, the flying, rolling 
basis of African slavery. What do secessionists — white 
secessionists, we mean — think of this?" — Christian 
Banner of June 26, 1862. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of July 
2, 1862, we published the following editorials : — 

"THROW OFF THE VEIL. 

" That African slavery is the direct cause which 
has produced the present wicked civil war, cannot be 
longer disguised. Is there a solitary man in our whole 
community, who has any claims to intelligence what- 
ever, who can longer deny the fact ? No ; not one. 

" Suppose the ' Southern Confederacy' should gain 
her independence, and should establish a permanent 
government based upon African slavery, — as it certainly 
would be : what would become of the poor white popu- 
lation in such a government ? The condition of the 
poor whites would be infinitely worse than that of the 
negroes themselves. The negroes would be cared for 
by their owners, housed, fed, clothed, attended in 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 377 

sickness, and decently buried when dead, if owned by 
good, humane masters. 

" The rich, being independent of the labor of the 
poor white population, except so far as overseers and 
housekeepers are concerned, would have no respect 
nor sympathy for the poor laboring white class of the 
people whatever. It requires no argument to prove 
this fact. It is a lesson which the laboring poor have 
learned long ago, in all slave-holding communities. 
And even the labor of poor white mechanics is already 
reduced to an insignificant figure in the South. Already 
there are in the South thousands upon thousands of 
negro carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, brick- 
masons, plasterers, &c. &c. All this labor comes into 
direct competition with the labor of poor white me- 
chanics. They know it, they feel it, they quarrel 
about it ; and still they wish and are trying to esta- 
blish it permanently, thus fastening the curse upon 
themselves, and entailing it on their children through 
all time to come, by fighting to establish a negro- 
oligarchy ! 

" Colored labor costs the slave-owners nothing more 
than the board and tax of the laborers (after the labor- 
ers are once paid for) ; and the board is of the cheapest 
kind, and the tax but a small trifle. Hence slave- 
owners can have work executed much cheaper than 
white men can possibly do it. Therefore, when slave 
labor comes into competition with the labor of poor 
white men, how can the poor white laboring- classes 
support their families, pay all contingent expenses, and 
educate their children so as to give them a position in 
society and a rank with rich slave-holders' children? 
They cannot do it; it is impossible. 

32* 



378 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"Nor is this all. It is a fact well known that wealthy- 
citizens in the South, instead of patronizing their own 
mechanics, as a general rule, send to the North to pur- 
chase articles which would be manufactured at home 
if the manufacturers were encouraged. As long as 
this state of things continues, the poor will remain 
poor, and their children must of necessity be brought 
up in comparative ignorance, which, according to the 
opinion of some men, is just as it ought to be ; because, 
say they, 'poor people's children have no need of edu- 
cation.' Why have they no need of education? Be- 
cause, if the masses were educated, they would no 
longer become the vassals of political tricksters, aspiring 
demagogues, and ecclesiastical knaves. Our country- 
would be safe in the hands of an intelligent and vir- 
tuous people ; and this, aspirants know and dread, and 
hence their aversion and deep-rooted prejudice to 
popular education. 

"We have always been pro-slavery in our feelings, — 
more, however, on account of the negroes themselves 
than of any permanent, solid good they are to their 
owners. Our opinion has ever been that to change 
the relation which servants hold to their masters would 
be a great evil to the former; because, semi-civil- 
ized and semi-christianized as most of them are, and 
being uneducated, they are incapable of self-govern- 
ment. It seems to us, however, that the time has 
actually come when important changes are to be made 
and new relations are to be formed. And, while we 
deeply and truly sympathize for the condition of the 
colored population of our country, we sympathize for 
our country more. And now, since our country is 
thrown into one end of the balance, and negroes into 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 379 

the other end, and the issue is being forced upon us, 
and the question is being asked us, which we will take, 
our country, or negroes, or our country without slavery, 
or slavery without our country, we answer, emphatically 
and uncompromisingly, OUE COUNTRY FOREVER! 
"We say that changes are being made and new 
relations are being formed. Servants are everywhere 
leaving their masters and nocking within the lines of 
the Federal troops. That they do this thing willingly, 
cannot be denied. It is an act of their own free voli- 
tion. True, it is said that the 'Yankees are stealing 
our negroes.' For the sake of argument, let us sup- 
pose that the 'Yankees' have stolen all the negroes 
who have left their owners in the town of Fredericks- 
burg. The negroes are constantly nocking into Fre- 
dericksburg from the extreme borders of Essex, 
Hanover, King and Queen, Louisa, Caroline, Culpepper, 
Orange, Madison, Albemarle, and all the counties in 
the northern neck of Virginia, and from all parts of 
Spottsylvania county. Did the 'Yankees' go to all 
these different localities and 'steal away the negroes'? 
No : the negroes voluntarily leave their homes and come 
to Fredericksburg. What does all this argue ? The 
problem is practically and literally demonstrated that 
the slaves of Virginia have an idea of freedom and a 
wish to obtain it, and are determined to be free. This 
is the only rational conclusion at which any sensible, 
logical mind can arrive. That they are determined to 
be free, and will certainly be free, is only a question of 
time. If, therefore, it is their wish and determination 
to be free, it is by their own voluntary act; and if evil 
shall come to them by this act, let it fall upon their 
own heads. That the condition of many of the present 



380 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

generation will ever be bettered, we do not believe; 
while, on the other hand, we do not think that the con- 
dition of some of them can be very much worsted. 
Where they are going, and what ultimate destiny or 
locality awaits them in the future, we cannot tell. 
This is a grave question, and one which will demand 
the profoundest legislation of the nation. That pro- 
visionL however, will be made for them by the Govern- 
ment, we do not entertain a doubt. 

"Look at the deplorable condition to which our 
country, our children, our neighbors, and fellow-citi- 
zens, are all reduced on account of the negro, and then 
let any true-hearted patriot, humane father or mother, 
who have the natural sympathies and affections of 
parents or patriots, say what estimate they can ever 
hereafter place upon the institution of African slavery. 

" The question of African slavery has been made a 
pretext for secession; has broken up our Government, 
has inaugurated civil war, has desolated our country, 
has drenched our land in blood, has bleached the lofty 
hills and beautiful plains of our country with the bones 
of our children, brothers, fathers, friends, and neigh- 
bors, has made heart-broken widows of thousands, and 
penniless, starving orphans of millions, has robed a 
whole nation in the drapery of sorrow, lamentation, 
and woe; and the horrible work of destruction and 
death is still going on, while there are those who say, 
1 Let it go on, until the last man in the South is killed, 
rather than ever return again to the Union or seek 
the protection of the Government of the United 
States !' That is to say, * Let the whole South be 
baptized in blood; let our children be slaughtered like 
cattle in the market; let every man in the South be 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 381 

killed; let our whole country sink to eternal ruin; but, 
for God's sake, let us keep our negroes/' This is the 
idea! Yes, Heaven knows that the negro is the one 
great, grand, and sublime idea with many of those 
who are constantly making terrible threats against 
good and loyal citizens and genuine patriots. 

" If these negro-idolizing gentlemen were forced to 
shoulder their muskets, buckle on their knapsacks, eat 
hard bread and spoiled meat, lie on the wet, cold 
ground, be drenched in torrents of rain, go half clothed 
and half starved as thousands of the poor soldiers are, 
and then had to face the mouths of cannons, and charge 
bayonets, they would find it a very different work from 
standing about the corners of the streets in the cool 
shade, concocting plans by which to hang Union men 
and have them punished after the Federal troops 'are 
driven away/ 

"We say, and thousands of others would say the 
same thing if they were allowed to speak, and could 
be heard, both in and out of the Southern army, ' Give 
us our country, our liberty, our freedom in the Union, 
under the time and heaven honored old Stars and 
Stripes, and let the negroes go, — all the negroes go to 
Africa, or any other place to which God and the 
Government may be kind enough to send them.' What 
mother is there, and what father is there but he who 
has the heart of a demon, and what wife is there, but 
would gladly give up their negroes to receive back to 
their embraces their sons and their husbands? 

" If the Federal Government had inaugurated war 
for the purpose of freeing the negroes of the South, or 
for any other unjust cause whatever, then the South, 
the whole South, would comparatively have been a 



382 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

unit in repelling the injustice. But such is not the 
case. 

" South Carolina inaugurated the war, and the 
United States Government has been and is still endea- 
voring to put down the ungodly rebellion and to 
restore peace and order once more in the country. 
And, under all the provoking circumstances, the lenity 
of the Federal Government towards the Southern 
people is absolutely without a parallel in the history 
of all wars, and of the whole wide world. The very 
mildness of the Government only provokes seces- 
sionists to greater insolence and contempt for the 
Union and the Government. We have been told that 
secessionists make their boasts that the Federal officers 
think more of them than they do. of Union men. In 
fact, we have heard this remark ourself; and it has 
been told to us, as goading us for our Union senti- 
ments, ' Oh, yes : the Yankees don't think half as much 
of you Union men as they do of secessionists.' As 
if we professed to be Union men because of what 'the 
Yankees' might think of us! Secessionists seem to 
presume upon their dignity to awe the Federal army 
into submission to their own will and pleasure. That 
leading secessionists in our community are daily be- 
coming more and more bitter and vindictive towards 
Union men, and more and more hostile to the Federal 
Government, is questioned by no impartial observer. 

"We deeply deplore the present ungodly state of 
affairs, and do most devoutly wish and earnestly pray 
that men would reason on the subject as they should 
do, because this dignified stubbornness and haughty 
rebellion can never be productive of any good. Let 
men throw off the veil and take a common-sense view 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 383 

of matters and things as they actually exist. All 
have got to come into measures, sooner or later, and 
the sooner the better for all parties interested, and 
especially for Virginians: therefore, throw off the 
veil." 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

"WON'T PATRONIZE YOU. 

" A citizen of Fredericksburg said to one of our 
town mechanics the other day, ' I won't patronize you, 
because you are a Unionist,' — when, in fact, he never 
had patronized him to the amount of ten cents in his 
life ! 

"This is like the patronage of a great many boasters. 
They will never patronize a man who refuses to read 
through their own smoky glasses, and who will not 
sneeze every time they take snuff. The more patronage 
honest men receive from such characters, the poorer, 
in a general way, they become. They take every 
thing they can get, and never pay for any thing they 
take. We simply give this as a specimen of the spirit 
of secessionists generally." — Christian Banner, July 
29, 1862. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of July 5, 
1862, we published the following editorial : — 



384 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"SLANDERS REFUTED.— LOOK AT THE OTHER SIDE. 

" We understand that certain characters in town are 
reporting to the Federal officers and soldiers that we 
were a rank, rampant secessionist before the Federal 
troops came to Fredericksburg, but as soon as they 
came we turned right over to the other side. 

" This is an infamous lie, number one ! Let any 
man come to us and tell us so. 

" Secondly, that we took the oath of allegiance to the 
Southern Confederacy. 

" This is a double-and- twisted, infamous lie, number 
two. 

" Thirdly, that we are a real genuine Yankee, from 
the State of Massachusetts. 

" This is a diabolical lie, number three. 

" If we were a rank, rampant secessionist before the 
Federal troops came to Fredericksburg, why did cer- 
tain slanderous, infamous characters try to have us 
arrested last fall and winter because we were accused 
of holding secret Union meetings ? We then indig- 
nantly hurled back the infamous slander into the face 
of the nefarious liars, and denounced the whole as being 
secession falsehoods. We have never held a Union 
meeting in the town of Fredericksburg, nor anywhere 
else, since the ever-memorable night we held a public 
Union meeting in the court-house in the town of 
Fredericksburg, when a set of unprincipled secession 
scoundrels tried to break it up, and, while we were 
addressing our fellow-citizens and warning them of 
the evils which they are now suffering, some finished 
scoundrel threw an egg at us, which, failing to reach 
us, hit a young man on the head who was seated in our 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 385 

front. Because we denied the libellous charge of hold- 
ing 'secret Union meetings/ and avowed our devotion 
to the South, as we have always done and still glory in 
doing, therefore we were 'a rank, rampant secessionist 
before the Yankees came to town.' We humbly trust 
in God that the time is not far distant when we can 
once more hold public Union meetings in the town of 
Fredericksburg, and then we will make a revelation of 
facts which will astonish secessionists themselves. 

" If we were ' a rank, rampant secessionist' before 
' the Yankees' came to Fredericksburg, why was it re- 
ported throughout the State of Virginia last winter 
that we were arrested and sent to Richmond for treason 
against old Jeff Davis and the Southern [Conspiracy 1 ^ 
Confederacy ? 

"If we were ' a rank, rampant secessionist' before 
' the Yankees came to Fredericksburg,' why did some 
one in Cary's regiment, the day they passed our door 
on Main Street as they were on their way to North 
Carolina last winter, cry out, ' God damn old Hunni- 
eutt ! Let's drive him and old Miller, and all the damned 
party of them, before us to Richmond 1 ? How can these 
same individuals, who used their utmost endeavors to 
have us arrested last winter and this spring because of 
our 'Union proclivities,' now have the unblushing im- 
pudence to say that we were one of the most 'hot- 
headed, rank, rampant secessionists in all the country'? 

" As to the report of our taking the oath of alle- 
giance to Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy, the 
idea is so supremely ridiculous that it needs no com- 
ment. No human being upon the face of the broad 
earth ever asked us to take any such accursed oath. 

"As to the report of our being ' a Yankee from Mas- 

33 



386 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

sachusetts,' it so happened in the order of events that 
we were born exactly in the other extreme, — in South 
Carolina, — and, with all her faults, we love her still ; 
and, were it not for the political trickery and imposition 
of her leaders, South Carolina would be in the Union 
to-day. 

" 'But why did we not come out and write and speak 
in this way last year, when the Southern soldiers were 
in town V Ay, that's the question. Let us turn over 
a new leaf, and see what is on the other side of the 
page. 

" Why did the editor of the ' Democratic Recorder' 
leave Fredericksburg in such great haste the morning 
the Federal troops arrived in Falmouth ? Why was 
not the publication of the ' Democratic Recorder' con- 
tinued after the arrival of the Federal army ? 

" Why were the Fredericksburg ' News' and the 
Virginia ' Herald' discontinued ? 

" Why do not secession flags float over the town of 
Fredericksburg now ? 

"Have all the secessionists left Fredericksburg? 
No, indeed. Why, then, do they not hoist their colors? 

" Why have all the ministers of the gospel in Frede- 
ricksburg ceased to offer up publicly in their congre- 
gations holy prayers for Jeff Davis, the ' chief magis- 
trate' of the ' glorious Southern Confederacy' ? 

" Have editors, ministers, and all the citizens turned 
Union-shriekers, submissionists, and Abolitionists since 
'the Yankees came to town'? Why, then, do they 
not go on and write and act and speak as they did last 
year? Ay, reader, they have no aspirations for a 
Northern prison. Nor had we any particular desire 
last year to be cooped up in a damp, dirty Southern 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 387 

dungeon. ' Turn and turn about is fair play,' is an old 
adage. Circumstances prevented us from writing and 
speaking as we wished to do last year; and circum- 
stances prevent secessionists from writing and speaking 
as they wish to do this year. It simply proves that we 
are all creatures of circumstances and must act ac- 
cordingly." 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of July 14, 
1862, we published the following editorials : — 

" LET REASON AND COMMON SENSE HAVE FAIR PLAY. 

"It is folly to reason and argue with men who are 
governed by prejudice and passion. This class of per- 
sons cannot be profited by any arguments used to con- 
vince them, simply because they are determined not to 
be convinced. There is another class, however, who 
are not wholly abandoned to prejudice and passion and 
who are not entirely given over to judicial blindness; 
and to this latter class we wish to make a few re- 
marks, earnestly hoping to be able to influence them 
in their future course of action. If by any possible 
argument we shall be able to induce them to return to 
their former allegiance to their country, our highest 
wish will be attained. To this class, then, we appeal. 

"Do not facts fully justify us in saying that seces- 
sion is a political swindle, and that Virginians have 
been swindled out of every right which they held dear 
and sacred ? Has not this been accomplished, too, by 
every grade of intellect, from Senators down to fifteen- 



388 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

shilling lawyers and penny political, editors ? Did not 
these political tricksters say that if Virginia seceded 
she would be the greatest State in the whole Southern 
Confederacy? that her wealth would increase abun-. 
dan try, and in the shortest conceivable time? that 
slave property would advance at least fifty per cent. ? 
that millions of capital would flow into all the towns 
and cities of Virginia, and that they would soon be- 
come large and populous? that she would soon be- 
come a great manufacturing State, and would be to the 
other States of the Southern Confederacy what the 
North had always been to the whole South? that 
there would be ' peaceable secession' ? that there was 
no danger of war of any magnitude? that the 
1 Yankees' loved the immortal dollar too well to involve 
themselves in the expenses of war? that the North 
had not the means to prosecute a successful war against 
the South ? that, in the event of war, one Souther a 
man could whip five ' Yankees' ? that ■ Yankees' 
neither knew how to fight, nor had the ' spunk' to 
fight even if they knew how? that the Southern 
army would take Washington City, ' rescue down^ 
trodden Maryland,' and go on to Philadelphia and 
make it a war of invasion against the North, and not a 
defensive war ? that if there should, by any possible 
contingency, be war at all, it would be one of short 
duration ? that the interest and sympathy of England 
and France were with the South, and that those Gov-- 
ernments would certainly acknowledge the independ- 
ence of the Southern Confederacy? that cotton was 
king, and would rule and govern the European powers, 
and the 'North into the bargain'? that when volun- 
teers were called for, the promise to many of them was 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 389 

that they were not to leave their own sections of the 
country, and certainly should not be sent out of their 
State? that negroes would prove loyal to their mas- 
ters, and would be one of the most effective elements 
in prosecuting the war? that they would cultivate 
the farms, and raise an abundance of produce, while the 
white men would carry on the war? 

" And, since the war has been progressing, has not 
the promise always been that the ' Yankees' shall be 
driven off every foot of Virginia territory ? Has it not 
been said that every defeat and retreat of the Southern 
armies was only a strategic move to draw the enemy 
out of his strongholds ? that Southern forts and cities 
were impregnable to the assaults of the enemy, and could 
never be taken ? And, since they have been taken, has 
not the promise been made to the remaining citizens of 
the Southern Confederacy that they will all soon be 
retaken by the Confederate forces ? And still the cry is, 
'The South will soon whip the North, and make the 
North submit to just such terms as the South may 
demand ; and then Union men in the South will be dealt 
with as traitors, and all their effects will be confiscated.' 

"By such threats, Union men in the South are still 
held in awe, and fear to avow their honest sentiments, 
because of the threatened vials of wrath which are to 
be poured out, without any mixture of mercy, upon their 
devoted heads. 

" We might extend our remarks on this subject much 
further; but we pause to inquire if all these things 
have come to pass. And now, kind reader, we entreat 
you to lay all prejudice aside and look facts and reali- 
ties full in the face, and then answer candidly if you 
have not been most shamefully and wickedly imposed 



390 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

upon by stump-speakers, speech-makers, and political 
aspirants of every grade of intellect. 

" Since Virginia seceded, in what has she become 
great, except in that she has become the great battle- 
field of all the Southern States, and her territory a 
great common burial-ground ? Truly may it be said 
that Virginia is the great valley of dead men's bones. 
In what has she increased in wealth in so short a 
period, but in thousands of armed soldiers, in the 
desolation of her farms, and sorrow, woe, and afflic- 
tions on all her inhabitants ? Has slave property ad- 
vanced fifty per cent, in value ? Is the institution of 
slavery placed on a sure and immovable foundation ? 
Have not slaves become valueless,- and is not the insti- 
tution virtually abolished? Have millions of wealth 
flowed into the towns and cities of Virginia, and have 
they become populous? Is there any probability that 
this will soon be the case ? Are they not deserted in 
many instances by native citizens, and filled witli 
legions of armed soldiers? Is there any reasonable 
prospect that Virginia will ever become a great manu- 
facturing State by her own native-born citizens, and 
that she will be to the other Confederate States what 
the North has always been to the South? Instead 
of l peaceable secession,' has there not been war, and 
that, too, of the most fearful magnitude and of the most 
malignant character ? Is not the war still raging most 
terribly, so that no one can tell when and where and 
how the awful scene will end ? Have the ' Yankees' 
proved that they loved the immortal dollar too well 
to involve themselves in the expenses of war, — a long- 
protracted war? Has the North failed in men or 
-means to.prosecute 'a war' ? Has it been demonstrated 



- THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 391 

throughout tne war, thus far, that ' one Southern man 
can whip five Yankees,' — that the Yankees do not 
know how to fight, and that they have no ' pluck' to 
fight? Has the Southern army taken Washington 
City, rescued 'poor down-trodden Maryland,' and 
marched into Philadelphia, making it a war of invasion' 
on the North ? Has the war been one of short dura- 
tion, — only three, six, or nine months, or a year ? Are 
the interests and sympathies of England and France 
with the South, and have these Governments acknow- 
ledged the independence of the Southern Confederacy? 
Has cotton proved to be universal king, ruling the 
European powers, and the North ' into the bargain' ? 
Have not many of the volunteers who first enlisted in 
Virginia been called away from their own sections of 
the country and sent out of the State? and when the 
twelve months for which they enlisted had expired, 
were they not all forced, by an act of the Confederate 
Congress, to remain in the army ? Have negroes proved 
loyal to their masters, and are they likely to prove 
themselves to be one of the most effective elements in 
prosecuting the war? Are they cultivating the farms 
of their owners, and raising an abundance of produce 
to carry on the war ? Have the ' Yankees' been 
'driven off every foot of Virginia soil'? If every 
defeat and retreat is only a strategic move to draw 
the enemy out of his strongholds, why are the defeats, 
so frequent and the retreats so far? Have Southern 
forts and cities proved to be impregnable to the assaults 
of the enemy? How many of the Southern forts, 
towns, and cities which have been taken by the Fede- 
ral army have ever been recaptured and held by the 
Southern troops ? 



392 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

"Look at all these facts, intelligent reader, and then 
tell us how long it will take the South, according to 
the progress which she has made for the last eighteen 
months, to whip out the North and make the Govern- 
ment of the United States submit to just such terms 
'as the South may demand.' With all these solemn 
facts and stern realities staring men full in the face, 
still there are those who persist in saying that ' the 
Southern army will soon retake all the Southern towns, 
cities, forts, and localities which are now being occu- 
pied by the Federal troops.' True, some of them may 
be recaptured and held for a short time; but what will 
the retaking of them advantage the citizens ? Will it 
not be attended with great loss of private property, 
and perhaps at the expense of the lives of many of 
the citizens themselves ? What, then, can be gained by 
a continued, pertinacious rebellion against the Govern- 
ment of the United States ? Nothing, absolutely no- 
thing, is to be gained, but every thing to be lost. 

" Again: were we not told by secessionists that, 
' whenever' and l wherever' the 'vandals' got possession 
of any of the Southern towns, cities, localities, &c. &c, 
they insulted and outraged Southern ladies, offer- 
ing to them every vulgar indignity of which debased 
and corrupt humanity is capable ? — that their mission 
was one of robbery, plunder, insult, and general car- 
nage, and that they laid waste every thing before them 
in their onward move? Yes; secessionists said that 
the Union troops did all these things. 

" Have they done these things in Fredericksburg ? 
Have they disturbed any citizen, male or female, in his 
or her daily, legal avocation? No, not one. What 
lady has been insulted or outraged, by the Union 



- THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 393 

troops since their arrival in the city? Has not the 
' Flag of the Union' been constantly insulted and the 
Federal Government abused by citizens ever since the 
town has been occupied by the Federal troops ? And, 
notwithstanding all this, has not the property of seces- 
sionists — and those, too, of the bitterest stamp — been 
guarded and protected by the Union soldiers? Has 
there ever within the memory of the oldest citizens 
been better order uniformly maintained in the town of 
Fredericksburg than there has been since its occupation 
by the Union army ? Was there ever such lenity in 
time of war extended to any people in the world's 
history as has been exhibited towards the people of 
Fredericksburg? Yet, astonishing to say, the very 
kindness of the Federal authorities seems but to in- 
crease the stubbornness and deepen the hatred of many 
of the citizens. 

"'But they steal our negroes; and that's just what 
they came down here to do.' Indeed ! Did Government 
send out an army to station guards around men's 
houses, farms, and negro- quarters, to keep the servants 
from running away from their owners, and to catch 
them and carry them back to their masters? Is it 
not strange that a people who say that they despise 
the Union, detest the Federal Government, and declare 
that they have taken themselves from under its safe 
and kind protection, should complain because that 
Government does not keep their slaves from running 
away, and, after they do run away, complain because 
the soldiers do not run after them, catch them, and 
return them to their masters ? Is not this insubordi- 
nation and running away of negroes one of the legi- 
timate results of secession? Were not the people 



394 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

faithfully warned of all these evils long before they 
came to pass? Secessionists have done it all; these 
are the direct evils of their own wicked doings : they 
have no right to complain ; they did it. 

" Nor is this all. If the people continue in a state of 
vindictive rebellion against the Federal Government, 
they have not yet realized half the bitter fruits and 
terrible evils that are in store for them. Hence we do 
most earnestly entreat our fellow-citizens to lay aside 
their hostile feelings to the Government and take their 
stand with loyal citizens, and then they can confidently 
claim, and will certainly obtain, protection under the 
time-honored ' Flag of the Union.' 

"To continue in a state of unconditional, uncompro- 
mising rebellion cannot possibly better the condition 
of any one. It will never make Confederate notes 
equal to specie. It will never bring back a single ser- 
vant who has left his master, nor will it prevent others 
from running away. It will not diminish the number 
of our children, relatives, friends, and neighbors who 
are being slain in battle or are dying in distant hos- 
pitals. On the contrary, the longer this ungodly re- 
bellion continues, the greater will be the number of 
slaves that will make their escape, and their value will 
constantly diminish. The less valuable Confederate 
notes become, — if they can sink below their present 
value, — the more and more of our sons and friends will 
fall either by the sword or by disease, the more and 
more will our country be desolated, and the more des- 
titute the great masses of the people will become, 
until one common ruin will swallow up the whole. 

"Where is the regard the leaders in this rebellion 
have shown the poor destitute women and children 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 395 

whom they have left forsaken, uncared-for, and unpro- 
tected at the mercy of the ' vandals' ? If they believed 
what they themselves said in relation to the conduct of 
the Union troops, they have manifested but little sym- 
pathy, and still less respect, for the wives and daughters 
and sisters of the men whom they have caused to be 
dragged from their homes, thus depriving helpless 
females and children of that protection which God 
and nature designed they should have. We cannot 
believe that many of the leaders in this unrighteous 
rebellion have any sympathy for the great mass of the 
'common people;' and yet the people seem bent and 
determined on believing in them, and following them 
to the very last extremity and consummation of ruin. 
'The South will whip the North,' — will drive every 
one of the 'Yankees off Southern soil;' 'the Southern 
army will soon pass through Fredericksburg on its way 
to Washington City,' — will carry the war into 'Africa,' or 
into Pennsylvania, and onward and northward, until all 
Yankeedom is subdued and brought under the power 
of the ' South ;' ' Confederate notes will soon be equal to 
gold and silver;' 'we will make the North pay the very 
highest kind of prices for all our negroes they have 
stolen;' 'we will make the Yankees pay the whole of 
the war-debt;' 'England and France will step in and 
settle up matters very soon now,' &c. &c. 

"How can men who profess to be intelligent, longer 
remain the dupes of folly so extravagant and of non- 
sense so consummate? Surely the people — all the 
people — have heard, seen, and felt enough of secession 
and its damning results to convince them that it is the 
grandest cheat, the blackest swindle, and the most dia- 
bolical deception that has ever been wickedly imposed 



396 THE CONSPIKACY UNVEILED. 

upon any people since God made the world. The seduc- 
tion of old Eve and Adam by the devil is not a circum- 
stance to secession. The devil seduced only one poor, un- 
educated woman, and she seduced only one poor, unedu- 
cated man ; and the beauty of it was, they had no ' nig- 
gers' to lose, — the issue between the devil and the wo- 
man being simply about an apple ; the ' nigger' question 
was not introduced. But secession has seduced and 
destroyed millions, many of whom are highly edu- 
cated; Senators, Congressmen, orators, editors, politi- 
cians, statesmen, poets, divines, doctors of divinity, 
doctors of medicine, lawyers, and even the common 
class, — the ignorant, uneducated 'poor white people,' — 
have all been seduced by secession, and they have lost 
and will lose their ''niggers' into the bargain. 

" Intelligent reader, think on these things ; and may 
God in mercy grant that you may view secession in all 
its loathsome aspects, and that you may fly from it as 
from a deadly poison. Let reason and common sense 
have fair play." 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



SECESSION. 



" Secession is a finished compound of all the discord- 
ant, disorganizing, diabolical, and damning elements 
which can possibly afflict and curse poor, suffering hu- 
manity. Only in hell there can be no secession, be- 
cause there devils damned firm concord hold. 

" Secessio7i hoists the flood-gate through which flows 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 397 

every conceivable curse that can visit mortals. It says 
to Diabohis, the prince of devils, 'Punch up your emis- 
saries; drive them on to do their work of finished 
ruin; now is the time; do not let the favorable oppor- 
tunity slip ; the work of death and general and effectual 
ruin must now be accomplished. ' 

"It says to the leaders in this infernal rebellion that 
they shall all have crowns and thrones, — if nowhere 
else, in hell: better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. 
That they must never rest satisfied until negroism is 
established on a foundation as immovable as the ever- 
lasting rocks of Gibraltar, and the last vestige of free- 
dom is swept from Southern soil, and Breckinridge loco- 
focoism seated on a 'topless' throne. That they have 
lost the reins of the Federal Government, and, conse- 
quently, all the 'spoils' — the 'loaves and fishes' — of the 
Government. That the spoils of Government have all 
fallen into Yankee hands, and their only hope now is to 
fight on, and on, and on, and establish a kingdom for 
Jeff Davis and his dignified and important satellites; 
and that they shall all be chiefs, or aristocrats of the 
highest importance. That, unless they succeed, they 
will all lose their dignified positions, their fat offices, 
and all the 'spoils' and 'loaves and fishes' of the Con- 
federate Government, together with all their negroes, 
and perhaps their own necks into the bargain. 

" It says to the disloyal clergy, ' Eemember, the people 
think that you are called and sent of God to preach; 
and verily they believe the lie, because you have told 
it to them, and they are therefore now prepared to re- 
ceive as messages coming from heaven any teachings 
or declarations which you may please to impose upon 
them. Pray long, loud, and fervent prayers for Jeff 



398 THE CONSPIEACY UNVEILED. 

Davis and all the arch-traitors of this great rebellion, 
and then preach treason against the Government, and 
expatiate eloquently to the people about the "God of 
battles" and the "everlasting nigger." Never rest from 
your work of destruction until every vestige of power 
and all the rights and privileges of the sovereign peo- 
ple are wrested from them, and American freedom is 
forever abolished. Tell the people that the "God of 
battles" is in for traitors and treason, and that he will 
lead them to certain victory, and will crown them with 
glory and honor as imperishable as the records of 
eternity. 

' " Say to the people that this rebellion must succeed ; 
that God has promised to be with Jeff Davis and his 
band of conspirators until this "great Southern em- 
pire" is permanently established, and Breckinridge 
locofocoisrn and negroism shall sweep over the land, 
bearing down all opposition. Be earnest and solemn, 
and, withal, affect a great deal of piety, so that the 
people may believe without a doubt, and know assuredly, 
that you are called and sent of God to preach Breckin- 
ridge locofocoisrn and negroism to them, and that they 
must receive and obey your divine teachings at the 
peril of their salvation. In all your discourses be posi- 
tive, dogmatic, dictatorial, and very denunciatory 
against the " old Union," "Yankees," and especially 
against " Union men and submissionists." In all your 
exordiums and perorations be sure and remember the 
institutions of slavery and freedom : exalt the former 
to heaven, and sink the latter to hell. This will fire up 
the hearts of the people, and will make them wrathy, 
and then they will fight like tigers and devils. Punch 
up the people; do your duty as preachers "called and 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 399 

sent of God" to preach treason and the overthrow of 
the Government, and make all the people do their duty. 
Be sure and always stick up to your text : do not for- 
get your text : keep it constantly before the people. 
Negroism and locofoeoism is the text. Stick up to it 
and punch up the dear people; and verily you shall re- 
ceive your reward, either in time or eternity,— in heaven 
or low down in hell But, at all hazards, do not forget 
the " nigger.'" 

" It says to death, < Come, do your work ; do not leave 
a single husband of the weeping wives of all these poor 
soldiers; do not leave a father of all the suffering 
starving children throughout the country; make 
widows and orphans of them all ; make a clean sweep 
of it; finish your work, and do it thoroughly. Do not 
spare a single son to return home to gladden the hearts 
of fathers and mothers crushed to earth.' 

"It says to military tyrants, 'Burn up and destroy all 
produce of every kind in your onward march; leave 
neither .cotton to clothe the naked, nor bread and meat 
to feed the hungry, starving poor. Do not let con- 
science disturb you, nor the implorings and sufferings 
and distresses of women and children move your sym- 
pathies. All these things are military necessities; this 
is war, and these are war-times : so roll ahead.' 

"It says to servants, Tour time has come at last; 
the long-looked-for and long-wished-for day of jubilee 
has dawned; the long, dark night of bondage is ra- 
pidly being swallowed up in past eternity. Arise and 
burst off and cast forever from you the manacles of 
despotism. Now is your time : gather up all you can 
carry along with you, and be off; put out at once; do 
not tarry; make no delay. Beware! Delays are dan- 



400 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

gerous. Off, off, to the city of refuge, to the land of 
freedom, at once !' 

"It says to merchants and speculators generally, 
'Now is your time to make money and get rich: so 
pitch right into the grease-tub ; roll up your sleeves 
and pitch in ; bring up out of your cellars, and down 
out of your garrets, all your old unfashionable moth- 
eaten goods and adulterated liquors : stick on the 
profits thick and heavy. If the people complain at 
having to give fifty cents and a dollar per yard for six- 
cent calico, old and out of fashion at that, — if farmers 
mouth and grumble because they are forced to pay 
from ten to sixty dollars for a sack of salt, — and if poor 
soldiers curse and swear because they are coerced to 
pay from five to fifteen dollars per gallon for rot-gut 
whiskey, which would vomit devils damned, if they 
were fools enough to drink it, — tell them all about the 
blockade ; that in war-times people always have to pay 
from ten to twenty times more for articles than in times 
of peace ; swear that you can barely live by the small 
profits laid on your old wares; and if they ask when 
and where and how you obtained them, tell them that, a 
few days ago, right from the North, a party ran the 
blockade, and that you were " devilish lucky" to get 
them at any price ; tell a thousand lies, and stick up to 
them ; never back down : you will never have such 
another chance to stick it on to the " poor devils." And 
all the time you are selling to them, talk eloquently 
about the glorious Southern Confederacy ; what a rich 
and independent people you will all be when the South 
gains her independence ; that the war will soon end ; 
the " vandals" will all be driven back to Yankeedom, 
and all the Virginia traitors and " Southern Yankees" 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 401 

shall be hung or driven out of the South ; old Lincoln 
will have to pay all the people the highest prices in gold 
and silver for the negroes whom he and his minions 
have stolen, and all the other losses they have sus- 
tained by the war. Roll out the lies smoothly and elo- 
quently, just like oil dripping from a feather; cheer up 
their spirits, fire up their hearts, and they will more 
cheerfully pay the prices for your goods. Tell them 
how much you love the South, — what terrible sacrifices 
you are making for the people of the South. Be sure 
and stick on the profits. Seeing your zeal for the 
" glorious cause" and your love for the South, they will 
never once suspect your damnable rascality. Let all 
the merchants combine, and have uniform prices for all 
their goods of every kind and quality, and let them per- 
fectly harmonize as to the amount of profit to be laid 
on, and let there be no competition in the market, and 
then, when the people come to buy, let them seem per- 
fectly indifferent about selling. Remember, you have 
now got the people in your power. Press them, crush 
them, skin them, strip them; all things are fair in war, 
you know ; and if at any time you should feel a little 
squirming about the tender part of your consciences, 
if you have any, go to church on Sunday the next fol- 
lowing after feeling these squirming sensations, and 
when the preachers pray to the "G-od of battles," 
thunder, blood, and carnage, for old Jeff Davis and his 
" infernal" clique, do you say, Amen! amen! and Joe 
sure and speak out your aniens loud enough to be heard 
by the preachers and church-dignitaries, and all will be 
easy, and you will be perfectly hardened to pitch right 
in again, fresh and early, on the next morning. Lay 
on the profits. Do not forget that. The profits are 



402 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

what must be looked after now. Make money now, and 
give your conscience credit till the judgment-day of the 
great God.' 

"It says to gamblers, 'Hang upon the army; follow 
up the army; live among the poor soldiers : many, and, 
indeed, most of them, are "green-horns" in the diabo- 
lical science of gambling ; watch them ; keep your eye 
on them, and, whenever you find they have money, 
throw out the bait. Do not let them suspect you ; be 
very friendly, social, and familiar; if possible, treat 
them, and let them drink freely, and when you get 
them in the right mood, go in for a game, no matter 
what, so you get the poor fellows' money. If you do 
not get it, somebody else will. Cheat them out of it ; 
lie them out of it ; bully them out of it ; scare them 
out of it, and be sure and get it ; rake up the money. 
You may never live to see another war, nor realize 
such another harvest for rogueing poor, unsuspecting, 
innocent men out of their money. " Make hay while 
the sun shines," is an old adage, but a mighty good 
one. Now is your time ; and, if you cannot get money 
by gambling, go right in for counterfeiting; make 
money, and pass off your counterfeits to the soldiers : 
the army is the place ; stick up close to the army, and 
whenever and wherever you meet a man out of the 
army, "poke" your counterfeits upon him: let no one 
escape whom you can rogue out of his money. Re- 
member, this is the rule and law among rogues. Do 
not violate your principle, but be sure and get money; 
life itself, in war-times, is nothing to compare with 
money. Take the hint; you understand; get money!' 

"It says to commissaries and quartermasters, and 
undertakers generally, ' You hold very important offices, 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 403 

occupy very tempting positions; fine opportunity for 
grand speculations, and no one can be injured. Make 
purchases from private citizens on your own responsi- 
bilities; pay your own individual money, purchase 
goods from individuals at the lowest possible prices, or 
get agents to do it for you, and when Government 
wants such goods, — no matter what, whether corn, oats, 
hay, flour, horses, mules, beeves, &c. &c, — just have 
your private, unknown agents at hand, ready with the 
goods called for, and make Government pay the highest 
prices. Do you not see what a chance for wide and 
grand speculations? You can soon get rich, and " no- 
body hurt." Everybody is making all they can out of 
this great war; and you had better take chances while 
the game is being played, and get your part of the 
public plunder. It will be too late after the war is 
over. Pitch in; now is the time; do not delay; "make 
hay while the sun shines.'" 

"It says to unsalaried and unpensioned clergymen, 
and even to some with small salaries and pensions, 
1 Something has turned up, at last, worthy your pro- 
foundest consideration. A grand revolution is on foot. 
A powerful civil war is culminating. If you will be 
active, energetic, and persevering in preaching up war, 
discord, and anarchy, and give your whole influence to 
the work of enlisting poor fellows for the war, they 
will choose some of you for chaplains, others, it may 
be, for generals, colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, 
adjutants, sergeants, corporals, fifers, or drummers, 
and thus you will all get fitted out with fat offices and 
high and honorable military positions ; and this will be 
much more respectable and, withal, much more profit- 
able than staying at home, lounging about, preaching 



404 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

to a few ignorant country-people. Koll up and pitch 
in. Make up your regiments and companies, get your 
commissions, secure your fat offices, and gain your 
respectable positions, before the number is made up and 
the door for admission is closed against you. Be quick. 
Punch up the young men. Do not delay. Now is 
your time !' 

"And, finally, having ejected every principle and 
feeling of loyalty from the minds and hearts of the 
arch-traitors in this rebellion, and having stirred up 
all the discordant, disorganizing, carnal, ambitious, 
and devilish passions within them, and having influ- 
enced them to inaugurate war upon their country, and 
having dissolved society and involved the whole coun- 
try in one general ruin, perched at last upon some 
lofty, towering pinnacle, the grim, ghastly monster be- 
holds a nation in ruins laid, and chuckles at the hellish 
work it has done. 

" Secession would break up and overturn all Govern- 
ments, human and divine, dissolve society universally, 
scatter broadcast discord, confusion, anarchy, deso- 
lation, sorrow, affliction, woe, ruin, death, and blood- 
shed everywhere ! Detestable monster ! What phi- 
lanthropist, patriot, parent, child, or Christian can 
ever offer an apology for a creature so hateful, loath- 
some, damnable as secession ?" — Christian Banner of 
July 14, 1862 [somewhat enlarged]. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 405 



CHAPTEK XXXVI. 

" TRUE TO ONE'S OWN SECTION OF COUNTRY. 

"American citizens can only be true friends to 
their own individual sections of country by being true 
friends to their whole country. 

" If the country, as a whole, can be broken up and 
destroyed, then each and every part composing the 
whole may likewise be destroyed. If, therefore, the 
elements of destruction within the Federal Government 
be sufficiently strong to destroy that Government, then 
the elements of destruction within the Southern Con- 
federacy are sufficiently strong to dash it into as many 
fragments as there are constituent parts or States, — 
these States having been parts of the whole Federal 
Government. 

" If the Union, the Federal Government, this nobly 
grand and toweringly sublime fabric reared by our 
ancestors, by men who possessed the purest hearts and 
clearest heads the world has ever known, cannot stand, 
what must be the fate, the ultimate destiny, of a con- 
federacy built upon the disorganizing principles of 
secession, — the very etymological meaning of which 
word — secession — is to disorganize, rend, tear, divide, 
cut asunder, split up, and rush on to general destruc- 
tion? Away, then, with this accursed, traitorous, 
damnable doctrine and idea that secession teaches, that 
because a man is a friend to his whole country, there- 



406 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

fore he must be an enemy and a traitor to his own 
little peculiar section, State, or county! The idea is 
superlatively absurd." — Christian Banner, July 14, 
1862. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



"LYING. 



" Never, within the memory of the oldest man now 
living on earth, has there been an age of such general, 
malignant lying as the present. It seems that almost 
everybody has given up all kinds of business, and 
'pitched' into a system of general, scientific lying. 
Men sit and stand about the corners of the streets, 
speculating upon what has been and what has never 
been, what is and what is not, what will be and what 
will never be, until their imaginative powers have be- 
come so very acute that they can metamorphose the 
God of love and mercy into a God of wrath and ven- 
geance, a God of peace and order into a God of war 
and anarchy, the devil into an angel of light, sin and 
death into holiness and immortality, treason into 
loyalty, and rebellion against the authorities that be 
into the supreme duty man owes to his God. 

" Every one has his own story, and dresses and fixes 
it 'up to suit his own taste, and then tells it to every 
one he chooses ; and if a man of sense should think 
proper to controvert it, the narrator gets as savage as 
a ' meat-axe,' and swears his auditor is a fool for want 
of sense, — the very thing that makes all fools. If a 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 407 

premium were offered for lying, about this time, and 
the devil were anywhere about, he would stand no 
chance. He would blush and skedaddle. The fact is, 
men have become so much accustomed to hearing lies 
and telling lies that when they see or hear the truth 
it appals them; and, without investigation, they de- 
clare that he who tells the truth is either a knave, 
a fool, or a madman, or, at least, a man of no charac- 
ter or respectability."— Christian Banner of July 30 
1862. y ' 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

In the number of the " Christian Banner" of July 
30, 1862, we published the following editorial: 

"ARRESTS.— SLANDER REFUTED. 

" On Tuesday night, the 23d instant, four prominent 
citizens of Fredericksburg were arrested by the au- 
thorities of the Federal Government, and on Thursday 
morning following two others were arrested, and all 
were sent North. Many rumors have been circulated 
relative to the causes which led to their arrest. Being 
ignorant of the facts in the case, of course we cannot 
say, certainly, for what cause they were arrested. We 
believe, however, that the general impression is that 
they were arrested and are held as hostages for certain 
Union men who were arrested some months ago and are 
now confined as prisoners by the Confederate Govern- 



408 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

ment. From all the circumstances connected with the 
arrest of these gentlemen, we are inclined to the opinion 
that they were arrested and are held as hostages for 
these Union men, and that they will probably be held 
until the Union prisoners are released. Not having 
heard of any specific charges which have been brought 
against them, we are led to adopt this belief. 

" Immediately on the arrest of these gentlemen, we 
were charged with having had some hand in the 
matter. In justice, therefore, to ourself, we feel it our 
duty to make a few remarks of general explanation, 
which we hope will be satisfactory to the parties and 
set the matter at rest forever. And, as we trust that 
this will be the last time that we shall be forced to 
bring this subject before our readers, we shall enter 
somewhat into details. 

" In the number of the ' Christian Banner' of the 
14th instant, we published the following paragraphs, 
which we republish in this number, that our readers 
may understand the subject fully. Here are the para- 
graphs. Bead them. 

" 'A reliable citizen of our town informed us, the other 
day, that he was told that we were running over the 
river every day to inform General King that one of the 
reverend clergymen of Fredericksburg had gone to 
Eichmond. He said that he contradicted the report, 
because he did not believe it to be true. We pronounce 
the report a base slander and an infamous lie. We 
have never had the pleasure of forming the acquaint- 
ance of General King. We have never spoken a word 
to him in our life. We do not know him, even by 
sight, and, if we have ever seen him, we are ignorant 
of the fact. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 409 

" * We have never crossed the Bappaharmock River 
but twice since the Federal army arrived in Falmouth. 
Once we went to General McDowell's head-quarters to 
get a pass to go to Baltimore ; but we did not see the 
general, and failed to obtain a pass. Once we visited 
Falmouth, and on our way were introduced to General 
Gibbon at his tent, which was directly in our way to 
Falmouth. What business is it of ours, or why should 
we care, if every clergyman in town should go to 
Richmond and stay there forever ?' 

" We shall handle some of the respectabilities with 
' gloves off,' if they don't mind how they talk about 
us. We may be ' flighty,' as one of the learned M.D.s 
has represented us at head-quarters, but we wish it to 
be distinctly understood that if we are too ' flighty' to 
make pills, we are too stubborn to swallow those com- 
pounded and retailed out to strangers for the purpose 
of blasting and damning the influence of the ' Christian 
Banner. 1 

"Respectabilities must surely judge of the actions 
and doings of Union men by their own acts and do- 
ings. Because they try to defame and blast the 
reputation and influence of Union men, they seem to 
think that Union men are constantly engaged in the 
same dirty, filthy work. Secession is a hard road to 
travel : it leads directly to destruction, and many there 
be that walk therein. 

" We had not heard, nor had we any knowledge of 
the fact, that Mr. Broaddus had gone to Richmond, 
until our friend informed us that the report was in 
circulation that we had informed General King that 
he had gone. It was commonly reported that a num- 
ber of our citizens had gone to Richmond, and that any 

35 



410 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

person could go who wished to go. Why, then, should 
we wish to inform General King that Mr. Broaddus 
had gone ? We have enough to do to attend to our 
own business, without running with 'batches' of news 
to General King to instruct him in the discharge of 
his duties. 

" We mean no disrespect to the clergymen of Fre- 
dericksburg when we ask, • What business is it of ours, 
or why should we care, if every clergyman in town 
should go to Eichmond and stay there forever ?' We 
have nothing to do with the clergy, nor they with us. 
Their systems of religion and politics, and ours, are so 
very dissimilar that they can never approximate and 
harmonize. As to religion, they can go to heaven in 
their own way. We believe in the doctrines and 
Christianity of the Bible. If we fail to get to heaven, 
we shall not lay the blame on the clergy. If they 
should fail to get to heaven, it is to be hoped that they 
will not seek to charge their condemnation on us; for 
God knows we have long and faithfully warned them 
of their danger. 

" When it comes to breaking up our country, how- 
ever, this is another question. In preaching up their 
own political destruction, they drag us into the same 
whirlpool of perdition with themselves; and to this we 
do most seriously object. And we do argue that if 
they should prove as successful in working out their 
own eternal ruin as they have been in effecting their 
own temporal destruction and that of us all, they are 
gone and lost forever. And, while we wish it to be 
distinctly understood that we do not charge the sin of 
secession upon the clergy only, we do say that many of 
them have done their full share in this awful, hellish work. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 411 

"We returned from Washington on Saturday even- 
ing, and on the following Tuesday night four of the 
gentlemen were arrested ; and before our paper went to 
press last week we learned that it was currently re- 
ported in town, and generally believed, that we had 
caused the arrest of those gentlemen. This being told 
to us by several of our prominent citizens, we wrote 
the following article, which we thought was quite 
sufficient to satisfy the minds of all. But we learn, 
however, that there are those who are still disposed to 
force the blame of the arrest of those gentlemen upon 
us. Read the article. We give it entire : — 

« ANNOYANCES. 

" A multitude of little things often annoy one more 
than one single charge of greater magnitude. We 
took occasion some time ago to make an explanation 
relative to certain reports against us, to the effect that 
we had visited General King and informed him that 
Dr. Broaddus had gone to Richmond, &c. &c. We dis- 
posed of the charge by denouncing it as a base slander 
and an infamous lie. We are now informed that the 
report is circulating generally through town, to our 
injury, that we went to the provost-marshal, Captain 
Mansfield, and informed him that Dr. Broaddus had 
gone to Richmond, and that Captain Mansfield, in reply, 
'asked' us 'if we 'had any business to attend to, and, 
if so, go and do it.' Now, we pronounce this a base 
slander and an infamous lie. 

" And, now that we are forced and provoked to notice 
these infamous slanders which are being circulated to 
our injury, we will notice other reports which are in 



412 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

circulation, but for the truth of which we do not hold 
ourself responsible. 

"It is reported that the citizens of Fredericksburg 
go to and return from Eichmond at pleasure; that 
there is a regular mail kept up between Eichmond 
and Fredericksburg; that a quantity of goods have 
been carried out of Fredericksburg supposed to be 
sent to Eichmond ; that the leading secessionists have 
made arrangements with the authorities of the Fede- 
ral Government that Captain Mansfield shall be con- 
tinued in the office of provost-marshal in Fredericks- 
burg; that a scouting-party brought in from the 
country a Lynchburg newspaper giving an account of 
the great victory obtained by the Confederates over the 
Federal army near Eichmond, and that the paper was 
given to Captain Mansfield, who sent immediately to 
Mayor Slaughter to come and see the news; that a 
gentleman living out of town said that he would 
' drink slop' or ' dish-water forever' before he ' would 
buy any thing from the damned Yankees/ and this 
gentleman's property was then being guarded by Fede- 
ral soldiers, and was afterwards continued to be guarded 
by the Union soldiers, and this was made known to 
Captain Mansfield, and the gentleman's property was 
continued to be guarded by the 'Yankees f that there is 
not a Union man in Fredericksburg who is in confidence 
with Captain Mansfield, they believing that he has no 
sympathy for them, and of course they have none for 
him ; that the secessionists control Captain Mansfield 
at pleasure, and that they boast of their influence over 
him ; that his counsellors are the leading secessionists 
(the respectabilities) of Fredericksburg; that Captain 
Mansfield is just the man for secessionists. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 413 

" While we are on the subject of rumors, we will add 
that it is rumored over town that we went to Washing- 
ton City last week to see President Lincoln and the 
authorities at the War Department, to get them to turn 
things ' upside-down' and to ' play the devil' generally 
with the secessionists of Fredericksburg. These are 
all secession lies. We went to Washington for no such 
purpose. We went on business of our own, and that 
of an entirely private character, — simply to get a little 
paper and some other articles which we were bound to 
have. We neither saw, nor went to see, President Lin- 
coln, Secretary Stanton, nor any of the officials at Wash- 
ington. Surely, secessionists watch us with a '■ critic's 
eye.' 

"While in Washington, at the National Hotel, a 
lieutenant in the Federal army informed us that Dr. 
Hose, of Falmouth, had told him that we were a perfect 
maniac. Then, upon the authority of Dr. Scott and 
Dr. Eose, we are 'flighty' and a 'maniac,' and, of course, 
we ought to be caged. If greater maniacs and more 
flighty persons than secessionists can be scared up 
this side of perdition, may all the heathen, civilized, 
Grecian, and Roman gods and goddesses pity them ! 

" We deeply regret the necessity of having to make 
these remarks ; but slander after slander being heaped 
upon us, day after day and week after week, we are tired 
of it, and are determined, if possible, to put a stop to it. 
And now we say to one and all of our vile, cowardly, 
worthless slanderers, that any human being who says 
that we have at any time reported any citizen of 
Fredericksburg, or that we have reported any man, 
woman, or child, male or female, black or white, south 
of Mason and Dixon's line, at any of the head-quarters 

35* 



414 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

of the Federal army, either in Virginia, at Washington 
City, or elsewhere, or that we have ever written any 
letter or letters to any of the official authorities of the 
Federal Government, or to any private individual or 
individuals, implicating any human being, or that we 
have ever carried or sent any document or documents, 
or signed any document or documents, to be sent to 
the official authorities at Washington City, or else- 
where, implicating any human being on earth, is an 
infamous liar. 

" There is a great fuss made over the arrest of se- 
cessionists ; but when Union men were seized and hur- 
ried off to prison, nothing was said against the course 
of action pursued by the Confederate authorities. This 
was all right : there was no sympathy for the poor 
wives and children and friends of these Union men. 
Secessionists rejoiced at it, and said the physic was act- 
ing, was doing its work well, &c. &c. Secessionists 
can make their threats against Union men, and say 
what will be done with them when the Southern army 
returns to Fredericksburg, — that they shall be shot, or 
hung, and that they shall never live in this community, 
— and Union men must submit to all these threats and 
every vile indignity and insult that can be offered by 
every worthless poltroon that drags his vile polluted 
carcass through the streets of Fredericksburg, and 
Union men dare not open their mouths in self-defence, 
for fear of being murdered by the Confederate soldiers 
when they ' come back' ! 

" We feel truly sorry that these terrible calamities 
have come upon us ; but we cannot help it. We sympa- 
thize with our fellow-citizens. We warned them of the 
danger, and entreated them to return to their former 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 415 

loyalty to the Government. But they spurned our 
counsel and treated us as an enemy, and still seem 
determined to rush headlong into irretrievable ruin 
and drag every soul after them who will be influenced 
by their ungodly example. 

" In conclusion, we will just state that we have never 
been officious at any of the head-quarters of the Union 
troops since their arrival in Fredericksburg and its 
vicinity, never having visited them except when busi- 
ness absolutely called us there. We have attended 
closely to our own business, and have interrupted no 
one in attending to his. Our sentiments we have writ- 
ten and published in the columns of the ' Christian 
Banner,' and for doing this we hold ourself indi- 
vidually responsible. If to be a Union man, a friend 
to our whole country, be a disgrace, then we are dis- 
graced, and we glory in it. If to advocate the cause 
of the Union, and to entreat our fellow-citizens to 
respect and observe the Constitution of the Federal 
Government, to the end that our own section, our own 
beloved South, may be saved from total destruction, be 
treason, then are we a traitor. But to whom, and to 
what, are we a traitor ? A traitor to Jeff Davis and 
his accomplices in treason ? A traitor to a man who 
was never a candidate for his office before the people 
of any State before the State of Virginia was tied on 
to the ' Southern Confederacy' ? A traitor to an an- 
ticipated Government, known and acknowledged by no 
nation of people upon the face of the whole earth ? A 
traitor to a set of leaders who swear that they will 
hang or drive out of their prospective kingdom or ei 
pire every man who is not a simon-pure unsuspicione 



416 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

secessionist ? A traitor to traitors ! A traitor to 
treason ! Heavens ! the whole charge is a burlesque 
upon traitors and treason!" 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

In the number of the "Christian Banner" of July 
30, 1862, we received and copied into the columns of 
the " Christian Banner" the following extract from the 
"Richmond Dispatch" of the 23d of July, 1862, on 
which we made a short editorial, both of which we 
here insert. First the extract: — 

"'MISDIRECTED PHILANTHROPY. 

" ' We noticed recently statements in Northern 
papers that Messrs. Marye and Slaughter, of Frede- 
ricksburg, had left that place to come to Richmond with 
the view of obtaining the release of the Federal Briga- 
dier-General Reynolds, who was captured in one of the 
battles on the Chickahominy. They were said to have 
been induced to do this in gratitude for the liberal and 
considerate manner in which General Reynolds had gov- 
erned their city while under his command. It was 
further alleged that the citizens of the town, entertain- 
ing the same feeling, urged the mission upon them. 

" ' It has been more lately stated by the same journals 
that the committee of two had returned, declaring their 
disgust with the Government at Richmond, all access 
to which was closed against them. 

" ' Now, we do not believe all that the Yankee papers 
have said on the subject; but we suppose at least so 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 417 

much is true as relates to the expedition of the gen- 
tlemen named to this place. They no doubt stated 
their case to the proper officers; and their appeal was, 
of course, rejected, as it ought to have been. Was not 
General Reynolds in arms against us ? Did he not lead 
a brigade of cut-throats to take the lives of our brave 
soldiers, to subjugate us, and take possession of our 
property? Was he not taken in the field fighting 
against us? Why then is he to be entitled to the 
commiseration of the Fredericksburgers and to dis- 
charge from the custody of our authorities? If he is 
less a brute and more of a man than some of his col- 
leagues, he cannot be excepted from the treatment due 
an enemy, though he may be less execrated. But he 
is in very bad company, and must take pot-luck with 
them. The people of Fredericksburg may run over 
with gratitude, but nobody will be lost in admiration 
of the good sense displayed in the commission to this 
city in behalf of the man who led so many Yankees to 
desolate our country.' 

" From the above it will be seen that the authorities 
at Richmond have very little sympathy for General 
Reynolds, notwithstanding all his kindness to the 
citizens of Fredericksburg. Surely, if the leaders in 
the Confederate army were sincere, and believed that 
they were telling the truth, when they delineated all 
the crimes of abomination which the Union troops 
would perpetrate against women and citizens generally 
whenever and wherever they advanced into the country, 
they ought to feel thankful to God and to the Federal 
officers that the people in Fredericksburg have been 
dealt with so tenderly. But General Reynolds 'is in 



418 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

very bad company, and, if he is less a brute and more 
of a man than some of his colleagues, he must take 
pot-luck with them.' This is the gratitude of the 
officials at Eichmond for all the kindness shown to 
the citizens of Fredericksburg by General Eeynolds. 
Wonder what they would do with some of the other 
kind, sympathizing Federal officers if they had them 
in Eichmond! They would have to take 'pot-luck' 
too, we guess." 



CHAPTEE. XL. 



In the number of the "Christian Banner" of July 
30, 1862, we published the following editorial : — 

"OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 

" The late order of General Pope has fallen like a 
thunderbolt from a clear sky on the citizens of this 
community. As long as they were allowed to talk 
treason against the Federal Government and threaten 
vengeance against Union men with impunity, they 
thought matters were going on very nicely. But when 
it comes to swearing, — to taking the oath of allegiance 
to respect and support the Government which has pro- 
tected them and all they possess from their cradles up 
to the time of this unprovoked rebellion, — they begin 
to look with wonder and astonishment. And this be- 
comes the more terrible when they look at the dread 
penalty which is annexed to the oath if not respected 
by those who take it. 

"We heartily wish that all our citizens could con- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 419 

scientiously take the oath and honestly observe it But 
we learn that there are some who declare they cannot 
and will not take it. They say, < It is hard for men to 
be forced from their homes.' Yes: this, we admit, is 
very hard; but then, on the other hand, it is very hard 
that a country like ours should be broken up by a set 
ol unprmcipled, aspiring demagogues. It is very hard 
that millions of soldiers should be forced to leave their 
quiet, peaceful homes, their wives and children, their 
fathers and mothers, and all the blessings and comforts 
of life at home, and peril their lives in camp, on the 
battle-field and die far away from home, friends, and 
relatives, all on account of the diabolical ambition of a 
few wicked, God-forsaken usurpers. It is very hard 
that our country should be desolated, and all our pri- 
vileges social, religious, and political, should be de- 
stroyed, by a set of disappointed tyrants. It is verv 
hard that our dear sons, whom we love as we do our 
own hearts blood, should be immolated upon the ac- 
cursed altar of a band of ambitious traitors. All these 
things are hard,-ye S , very hard; and yet the leaders 
who forced this state of things upon the country think 
it very hard that they should be subject to any incon- 
veniences or losses during the whole rebellion 

"But men talk about 'property' in this matter. 
What true-hearted patriot would throw his country 
into one end of the balance and a few goods and chat- 
tels i n t the other end, and then hesitate a moment 
winch to choose? Would not every true patriot ex- 
claim, 'Our country forever!' 

"But suppose we take the oath to respect and sup- 
port the Federal Government, and afterwards the 
Confederate army should return: then we shall lose all 



420 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

our property, and, it may be, our lives into the bar- 
gain.' 

" Well, suppose you do not take the oath of allegiance : 
you will forfeit all your property by refusing to take 
the oath and by going outside of the Federal lines ; and 
if the Confederates return all your property will be 
destroyed anyway, except, perhaps, the ground upon 
which your houses stand: hence, if you go against 
your country, you will certainly lose all your property, 
and may-be your lives into the bargain, and, worse 
than all, you may die fighting against your own dear, 
heaven-blessed country. 

"By taking the oath of allegiance to the Constitu- 
tion and support of the Federal Government, men may 
save their honor, their property, their lives, and their 
country. And, remember what we say, this is but 
the beginning of the evils that are yet to come upon 
us if we continue in a state of ungodly rebellion. 
Men may stand upon their affected dignity until they 
see their country crushed, but dignified and titled 
pride will fall into muddy waters before this rebellion 
ends. If there should be a doubt, therefore, in the 
mind of any one as to what course he should pursue, 
we would honestly, before God, say, Let our country 
have the benefit of that doubt. Our country first, 
our country last, and our country forever !" 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 421 



CHAPTER XLI. 

"PRIVILEGES ABUSED. -SUNDRIES. 

" Since the occupation of Fredericksburg by the 
Federal troops, a quantity of goods have been brought 
to town, and vast quantities of them are said to have 
been sent on to Richmond. In consequence of which 
the traffic, or speculations, have been suppressed by 
Government; and we learn that no more goods will be 
allowed to come to town, except supplies for the army. 
11 this be true, we shall soon see and feel suffering 

o^oio FrGdeTicksh ^'~Christian Banner, July 
o\j } 1862. 

"PUBLIC NOTICE. 

"For the last eighteen months we have been an- 
noyed and constantly insulted by a set of worthless 
impudent, low-lived, contemptible, lawless boys, who 
visit our door and often so disturb us and our com- [ 
pany that it is impossible to enjoy any satisfaction 
with gentlemen who visit us. We have in one or two 
instances informed their parents, and all to no effect. 

"We now, therefore, give these hopeful candidates 
of hemp and their parents public notice that if we are 
again interrupted or insulted by these said worthless 
scamps, they must take the consequences. We know 
the boys, and have got the proof."— Christian Ban- 
ner, August 6, 1862. 

These boys, we believe, were influenced to this course 

36 



422 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

of conduct by their seeesh parents, because we were a 
Union man. Their conduct was absolutely intolerable 
both by day and by night, as many of our visitors can 
testify. 

"The provisions embraced in the Constitution of the 
United States and the Fugitive Slave Law were the 
only securities and safeguards for the perpetuity of 
African slavery in the South. The seceded States, 
having repudiated the Constitution and the Govern- 
ment of the United States, have virtually abolished 
African slavery by their own acts." — Christian Ban- 
ner, July 6, 1862. 



CHAPTER XLIL 

"GUERRILLA BANDS. 

"'Partisan rangers,' says Secretary Randolph, 
1 require stricter discipline than other troops to make 
them efficient, and, without discipline, they become a 
terror to their friends and are contemptible in the eye 
of the enemy.' 

"Who could have supposed, three years ago, that 
the citizens of America, — proud, happy, enlightened 
America — could ever have inaugurated a system of 
warfare so barbarous, savage, and cruel as this 
guerrilla-band system, — a system, too, clothed with 
all the pomp, dignity, and importance which the 
authorities of the Confederate States can bestow 
upon it? 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 423 

"These bands are 'a terror to their friends/ simply 
because no one can regard them in any other light 
than legalized bands of highway-robbers, who would 
as soon take from friends as from foes. No man is 
safe in a community where these guerrilla bands are 
allowed to prowl through the country with impunity." 
— Christian Banner, July 6, 1862. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



EXAMINE THE LOGIC. 



"Virginians were warned that secession was the 
broad, sure, and direct road to universal ruin. They 
are now told tha.t to continue in a state of rebellion 
against the Federal Government will certainly com- 
plete the destruction and general ruin which are now 
going on all over the State; and still the men who 
warn them of their danger are regarded by secession- 
ists as the worst enemies of Virginia, traitors to Vir- 
inia and to the South, who ought to be punished with 
death, and shall be when the time comes. 

"Ministers of the gospel warn sinners to flee from 
the wrath to come. They declare to them that the 
wages of sin is death ; that the way of transgressors is 
hard; that if they continue to rebel against the 
authority of Heaven they will certainly be lost forever. 
'It is all nonsense,' say sinners: 'these preachers are 
all crazy : they are in league with his satanie majesty, 
and want us all to go to hell.' 



424 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" Just as certainly as that sinners will be lost who 
refuse to repent and yield obedience to the word of 
God and the laws of Heaven, just so certainly, in our 
opinion, will Virginia and Virginians be forever tem- 
porally ruined, unless they lay down the weapons of 
their rebellion against the Federal Government and 
speedily return to their former loyalty to the Constitu- 
tion and Government of the United States. And be- 
cause we thus warn our fellow-citizens of the awful 
calamities which must certainly visit them if they 
remain rebellious, they regard us as their worst enemy. 
Are we indeed an enemy to our countrymen because 
we tell them the truth?" — Christian Banner, August 
6, 1862. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

"'CAN'T DISGRACE OURSELVES AND OUR CHILDREN BY 
TAKING THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.' 

" Is it not passing strange, and a most ridiculous idea, 
that men who have been protected by the Government 
of the United States, ever since they were born, in their 
persons, property, and every blessing, civil, political, 
social, and religious, which men can hold near and dear 
on earth, should now raise the canting cry, ' We can't 
take the oath of allegiance to the United States Govern- 
ment; it would disgrace us and our children forever.' 
1 Can't take the oath of allegiance to the Black Repub- 
lican Abolition Government.' ' Can't take the oath 
of allegiance to old Abe Lincoln.' 

" Men refuse to take the oath of allegiance to support 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 425 

the best Government in the world, — and one, too, under 
the fostering care of which they have lived all their 
lives, — for fear by this act of being eternally disgraced 
and for fear of entailing infamy on their dear chil- 
dren ! But they are not afraid of disgracing themselves 
and their dear children by taking the oath of allegiance 
to support an organized mob, the avowed design of 
which is to break up the Government and to establish 
a despotism more to be dreaded than death with all its 
horrors. 

"'Can't take the oath of allegiance,' to support a 
Government acknowledged and respected by all the 
nations of the civilized world, but do not blush to swear 
allegiance to a prospective Government, which is neither 
acknowledged nor - respected by any nation on earth, 
and perhaps never will be to the end of time. 

"'Can't submit' to the administration of a man who 
was constitutionally elected by a large majority-vote 
of the American people, but are willing to submit to the 
administration of a man who received his appointment 
at the hands of a few arch- traitors to their own Govern- 
ment, which they had sworn to respect and defend. 

"'Can't take the oath of allegiance to old Abe Lin- 
coln :' this would disgrace them and their children in 
the estimation of all honorable men ; but they can take 
the oath of allegiance to old Jeff Davis, which is honor- 
able, and entitles them and their children to considera- 
tion and position among all the respectabilities and all 
the first families of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and 
people who live and dwell and move upon the face of 
the whole earth ! What a pity it would be for some 
men and their dear children to lower their standing, 
position, and respectability in society and among all 

36* 



426 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

the respectabilities of all the respectable nations of 
the world, by taking the oath of allegiance to the Con- 
stitution of the United States ! 

"For American citizens, who profess to be patriots, to 
abandon the Constitution and the Federal Government 
for a prospective Government to be established by a set 
of traitors, is as ludicrous as for men professing to be 
Christians to swap the Bible for the theological works 
of Thomas Paine." — Christian Banner, July 6, 1862. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

"FREDERICKSBURG THREE YEARS AGO, AND FREDE- 
RICKSBURG NOW. 

" How very different was Fredericksburg three years 
ago from Fredericksburg now ! Who could have sup- 
posed that such great changes could have taken place 
in so short a period ? Then she was a gay, fashionable, 
happy, and prosperous town ; now she looks as though 
the angel of death had passed over her and smitten the 
first-born of every family in town. In half a century 
from this time, Fredericksburg will be a large manu- 
facturing city, with five times the population she now 
has, or has ever had. Remember the prediction !" — 
Christian Banner, August 6, 1862. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 427 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

•'VIRGINIANS, PREPARE FOR THE WORST! 

" 'Tis hard for those who have labored and toiled for 
years in order to accumulate the necessaries of life, and 
who by the most rigid economy, and in many instances 
by the greatest self-denial, have secured a competency 
of this world's goods to sustain them in the decline 
of life and old age, to have it all swept from them, as 
it were, in a single day. But such is the present state 
of things. And, what is most provoking, the innocent 
in this infernal rebellion, in many instances, will suffer 
equally with the guilty parties, if not more. 

" The action of a few leaders in the cotton States has 
involved Virginia in universal and inextricable ruin. 
The great wealth of Virginia, and especially of Eastern 
Virginia, consisted principally in her slave population. 
This portion of her wealth is irrecoverably lost. To 
think of ever recovering the slaves that have escaped, 
or shall hereafter make their escape, is absurd. And 
equally fallacious is the idea that the rebellious owners 
will ever receive any pay for them. They are gone, — 
and from their former masters they are gone forever ! 
That the whole of the slave population in Eastern Vir- 
ginia, with the exception of a few old, superannuated 
men and women, and a few children who have no fathers 
and mothers to aid them in making their escape, will 
ultimately leave, no sane man can doubt for a moment. 



428 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Then it is certain that by far the greatest portion of 
the wealth of Virginia is already lost ! lost ! lost ! 

" Real estate is the next species of property which 
is the most valuable in Virginia. To say nothing of 
the confiscation law, the landed estates in Virginia 
will, before the war ends, diminish at least one-half 
or one-third their original value. What will farms be 
worth without enclosures, houses, and even destitute 
of timber in many instances to rebuild them? The 
whole country desolated, houses torn down, fences de- 
stroyed, negroes gone, and most of the white male popu- 
lation either dead or wounded and disabled for life. 
This will be the condition, the destiny, of Virginia, 
when this war shall have closed ; and no sensible man 
will controvert it. 

"In connection with this subject, we would ask, what 
is the money worth which is now in circulation in Vir- 
ginia? Confederate notes are worth nothing outside 
of the Confederate lines, and are worth nothing inside 
of the Confederate lines except for present purposes ; 
and, let the success of the war be what it may, Con- 
federate notes, as we have often said, can never be re- 
deemed. This money will ultimately be a dead loss to 
individuals who have it on hand. Even Virginia 
money is greatly below par now; and what it will 
finally be worth is altogether a matter of wild specu- 
lation. 

"In addition to all this, Virginia is now, to a con- 
siderable extent, maintaining both the Federal and 
Confederate armies. How long will it take two such 
armies — say a million and a half of men and horses — 
to eat Virginia out of house and home ? All the pro- 
duce which was raised last year, and all that is being 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 429 

raised the present year, will soon be eaten up and con- 
sumed, and but little preparations are being made for 
crops next year; and what, we ask, will become of the 
citizens of Virginia during the next eighteen months 
or two years? Terribly dark is the picture to con- 
template; and, in addition to all this, there are many 
calamities more fearful than any yet named, and of 
which we tremble to think, and forbear to mention but 
which will certainly befall us if this wicked rebellion 
continues. And we repeat that, in the face of all these 
things, many of our citizens continue fixed, firm and 
steadfast in their course of rebellion,— determined if 
possible, to break up the Government, annihilate the 
Kepublic, and establish the reign of anarchy, guerrilla 
despotism, and terror, all over the land. We do most 
devoutly pray that those of our fellow-citizens who are 
not given entirely over to judicial blindness, hardness 
of heart, and reprobacy of mind, will think more se- 
riously, calmly, and dispassionately, and withal more 
sensibly, on this subject, and renounce and denounce 
this most unholy rebellion, and return to their duty as 
loyal citizens. 

"We say, therefore, let Virginians prepare for the 
worst; for, under the most favorable circumstances in 
which this subject can possibly be contemplated, all 
hands must go to work. Males and females, young 
and old, those who have been rich, as well as the poor 
all must henceforth go to work. Therefore, let all 
hands roll up their sleeves and pitch right in."— Chris- 
tian Banner, August 6, 1862. 



430 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

"WONDERFUL TO TELL. 

" On last Saturday morning our attention was called 
to a crowd of contrabands, which by far surpassed 
any thing we have seen during the war. An elegant 
carriage, drawn by two splendid horses, came rolling 
into town, and halted in front of General Patrick's 
head-quarters. Being induced by curiosity to look into 
the interior of the carriage, we discovered that it was 
thoroughly filled with female contrabands and children. 
The women were sitting up, fanning themselves, and 
looking as aristocratic as if they belonged to the ' first 
families of Virginia,' and no doubt but what they had ; 
but, alas ! the primitive glory was rapidly departing, 
as it is from most of the proud, aristocratic first fami- 
lies of Virginia, that good old State, sacrificed on the 
unhallowed altar of would-be petty tyrants and con- 
temptible demagogues. The whole retinue belonging 
to the carriage, including the driver and a companion 
seated by his side, numbered ten contrabands in all. 
We learned from the party that the carriage and 

horses belonged to Mr. , of Caroline county, who 

' had' been their master, and who was at home when 
they left, and was, perhaps, asleep, as they skedaddled 
while it was yet dark. 

"In company with the carriage-party there was an 
ox-cart, drawn by four large, fat oxen, filled with fur- 
niture, and about fifteen women and small children on 
top. There were others on horseback. In all, we 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 431 

learned that there were between twenty and thirty- 
contrabands, all of whom had belonged to one man, as 
did also the carriage and horses, and cart and oxen, 
and all left the owner in one single night ! The whole 
lot of negroes, carriage and horses, cart and oxen, 
three years ago would have commanded in actual cash, 
at the lowest calculation, twenty-five thousand dollars, 
and all gone in a single night ! 

" Virginians are being reduced to the most abject 
poverty. This, we must remind the reader, is a part 
and parcel of the 'promised glories of secession. Let 
the wise leaders in the damning work of secession now 
come forward before the dear people, — the hard-working 
yeomanry of Virginia, — and give an account of their 
stewardship. How the citizens of Virginia can longer 
tolerate these men, who must be either fools or knaves, 
or both, is one of the riddles of riddles to us, and 
one which we cannot solve, except upon the prin- 
ciple of the old Roman adage, 'Whom the gods in- 
tend to destroy they first make mad.' And still the 
dear people seem bent and determined on following 
their political and spiritual guides, even if they land 
them in temporal and eternal ruin. 

" Great numbers of contrabands are flocking into 
town, — more for the last few days than usual, owing, we 
suppose, to the report that the Southern army is re- 
turning to town, and the negroes are trying to make 
their final exit before it arrives. 

" What a change of things in Virginia ! Negroes 
riding in fine carriages, while their masters and mis- 
tresses are left at home to cut the wood, milk the 
cows, ' tote' the water, cook the victuals, sweep the 
floors, and nurse the children I And still they shout 



432 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

hosannas to secession, to old Jeff Davis and the 
glorious Southern Confederacy ! The reaction must 
come, it will come; and then woe be unto the leaders." — 
Christian Banner, August 16, 1862. 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 

"'I NEVER EXPECTED IT WOULD COME TO THIS.' 

"A gentleman and a friend of ours from the country 
observed to us in our office the other day, in course of 
conversation on the gloomy appearance of affairs, that 
he 'had no idea things would turn out as they have/ 
when he was advocating secession and when he ' voted 
for it.' With a deep sigh, and a downcast look, he 
exclaimed, • I never expected it would come to this.' 
'No,' he added, 'I never expected this.' Thousands 
can say the same thing now. Why, then, hold on to 
the abominable doctrine of secession, — the abomination 
of desolation? Why not abandon the accursed evil, 
and at once take a decided stand in the ranks of loyal 
citizens ? 

"The leaders in this rebellion had no idea themselves 
that things would turn out as they have done. If men 
had honestly and without a doubt believed that seces- 
sion would have caused the death of their dear children, 
the abolition of their slaves, and the general ruin of 
their country, would they, could they, have advocated 
and voted for secession? And would they have de- 
nounced those who were opposed to secession as traitors 
and Abolitionists, and have forced them to vote whether 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 433 

they wished to do so or not ? Common sense says, No; 
every sympathy of humanity says, No. These same men 
are daily and hourly seeing and feeling the results of 
secession ; and we now tell them plainly that the half 
has not been seen and felt unless they renounce their 
rebellion and return into the Union and do their duty 
as loyal citizens. 

"Men see and feel the blasting, withering, and deso- 
lating effects of secession everywhere, and still they 
persist in saying, 'We'll soon whip them out; we'll 
have Washington soon ; we'll get all our negroes back, 
or get well paid for them ; we'll keep fighting on until 
the last man in the South is killed out ; we'd rather 
see every thing in ashes, every soldier killed, the 
whole country annihilated, than ever to return again 
into the Union.' 

" Was ever such folly and madness heard of, read of, 
or thought of, since God made man, as the folly and 
madness which spring from secession ? 

" • I never expected it would come to this.' Thou- 
sands can now say this, and they are saying it every 
day, We never expected ' it would come to this.' No : 
the champion leaders, the arcA-traitors in this terrible 
rebellion are as much disappointed in their calculations 
and expectations as are the great body of the people 
whom they have deceived. They never expected things 
would take the course and produce the results which 
they have done. Virginians never expected to see their 
beautiful towns desolated, their farms laid waste, 
their property scattered like chaff before the wind, 
their slaves leaving them at will and marching off 
never to return again, their children sacrificed and 
butchered like sheep for the slaughter. They never 

37 



434 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

expected that Virginia would become the battle-field 
and the burial-ground of a great national revolution. 
No : Virginians never expected any of these things. 

"Six months ago, the secessionists in our town laughed 
at the idea that the Union troops would ever get to 
Fredericksburg. They never expected things would 
come to what they have; and it would have been dan- 
gerous for any one to have predicted the present state 
of affairs in town. They now see with their eyes 
and hear with their ears; but all seems to make little 
or no impression on their minds and hearts for the 
better. They see with their eyes, but cannot perceive; 
they hear with their ears, but cannot understand. 
They obstinately refuse to contemplate the ultimate re- 
sult of things dispassionately and impartially. If this 
rebellion should continue twelve months or two or 
three years longer, the horrible scenes which will be 
acted out will be without a parallel in the history of 
the world. The simple circumstance of slaves leaving 
their owners will be regarded as an insignificant trifle 
compared with other things which will happen. 

" The whole colored population of Virginia is becoming 
alarmingly demoralized; the spirit of insubordination 
and rebellion against the authority of their masters 
is constantly being demonstrated in our midst. This is 
obvious to all persons. There are but few white men 
in Virginia apart from the army, except old men and 
invalids. The most of the white male population of 
Virginia is in the Southern army. When, therefore, 
this spirit of rebellion in the colored population becomes 
fully rife, what will become of these old men and in- 
valids ? and, worse than all, what will become of help- 
less women and innocent children? The future is a 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 435 

picture terrible to contemplate, to avert which, every 
sensible man and woman in the whole country should 
exert his or her undivided and untiring influence. The 
half has neither been seen, heard, nor felt, if this re- 
bellion continue twelve months or two or three years 
longer. Remember, fellow-citizens, what we say ; and 
may the Lord grant you wisdom and understanding 
before it is finally too late !" — Christian Banner, August 
13, 1862. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

"RESPECTABILITY. 



"One of our country friends informs us that he heard 
a prominent citizen of Fredericksburg, and a member 
of the bar, say that 'there are not more than four men 
of respectability in the town of Fredericksburg who 
are in favor of the Union' or of the Federal Govern- 
ment. The gentleman and the Union men of Frede- 
ricksburg may only differ on the simple question, What 
is respectability? Of course, all lawyers are men of 
respectability. They never twist, turn, nor change 
their political status, or position ! The fixed and im- 
mutable laws of nature may change, but lawyers, 
never! They are always men of respectability! This 
is a fixed, undeniable fact: therefore it is useless to 
look for a Union man among them. All leading seces- 
sionists are men of unquestioned respectability : they 
never change their political principles, do they ? They 
say they will rule or ruin; and they swear that they 



436 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

will stick up to their text, if they drag the whole world 
headlong to hell with themselves. Who can, henceforth 
and for evermore, question the respectability of lawyers 
and leading secessionists?" — Christian Banner t July 
14, 1862. 



CHAPTER L. 

•'POOR WHITES LOYAL. 

"A correspondent of the New York 'Herald' 
says — 

" ' Out of one hundred and twenty citizens of Sperry- 
ville who have taken the oath of allegiance within the 
last two days, there are fifty who cannot write their 
names. The whites, as a rule, are loyal; and but few 
of them will be sent South.' 

" What a glorious eulogy this correspondent passes 
on 'poor whites'! They, 'as a rule, are loyal.' The 
poor white classes are honest, loyal, and would do their 
duty were it not for the intrigue, deception, and dam- 
nable villany of designing men, who, taking advantage 
of the position which they occupy in society, impose 
upon the ignorance and credulity of the 'poor whites.' 

" ' The poor whites, as a rule, are loyal :' by inference, 
therefore, the rich, white respectabilities are traitors 
to their country. The men who have involved the 
poor, loyal whites in this awful rebellion are Senators, 
Congressmen, Legislators, members of conventions, 
lawyers, preachers, clerks, office-holders, and office- 
seekers, who, having no office, and finding and know- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 437 

ing it to be hard to roll and shine without means to 
uphold them in their extravagances, preached secession 
to the poor loyal whites, and, by fair promises, 
eloquent speeches, and terrible threats, involved them 
in ruin, with the vain hope of obtaining the rich spoils 
of Government and honorable positions for themselves. 
"Why, then, should men who are trying to ' crush 
out treason and put down the rebellion,' as they call 
it, seek the counsel of the rich, treasonable respect- 
abilities of 'rebeldom'? Have wealth and position, 
though clothed in the long black robe of treason, such 
charms as to attract and allure into their influence 
epauletted loyalty? 11 — Christian Banner, August 13, 
1862. 



CHAPTER LI. 

"THE UNION AS IT WAS. 

" ' Let us have the Union as it was. Give us back 
the old Union, with all our rights and institutions, and 
we will be satisfied.' 

"Are secessionists in earnest when they speak thus? 
Did they not have the Union, the old Union, the Union 
as it was, with all their rights, privileges, and institu- 
tions, religious, political, social, and domestic? They 
did; and still they were not satisfied. After millions 
of dollars have been spent, and hundreds of thousands 
of lives have been sacrificed, — after a nation has been 
baptized in blood, the innocent blood of its noblest 

37* 



438 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

sons, — after the peace and happiness of thirty millions 
of people have been destroyed, — after the pall of gloom 
and sorrow has enveloped the whole nation, — when sad- 
ness is depicted in every countenance, and every heart 
throbs with grief, — for the instigators and leaders in this 
awful tragedy to talk about getting back the old Union 
— the Union as it was — is an absurdity in thought. 

" Disappointed in their ambitious and wicked attempt 
to break up the Government and to destroy the old 
Union, the Union as it was, — and failing to establish a 
negro-oligarchy upon the ruins of liberty and the 
downfall of a free and independent Government, they 
cry out, \ Give us the old Union, — the Union as it was, 
— and we will be content.' 

"When the leaders in this wicked rebellion shall 
have restored to the Government every dollar that has 
been expended in putting down this rebellion, and 
shall have refunded to the people of the seceded States 
every dollar they have spent in carrying on this rebel- 
lion, — when they shall have restored to all the weeping 
widows and orphan children their murdered husbands 
and fathers, — when they shall have given back to heart- 
stricken parents all their sons who have fallen and shall 
yet fall in the battle-field and with disease occasioned 
by this unjust war, — in a word, when the guilt and 
stain of the last drop of innocent blood of all who have 
fallen in death, produced by this unholy war, shall have 
been wiped from their guilty souls, and when this whole 
country shall have been restored just as it was before 
this war began, — then, and not until then, may the 
leaders in this rebellion expect to get back the Union, 
the old Union, just as it was. 

"The Union can never be restored just as it was. 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 439 

This is an absolute impossibility. The dead can never 
be restored back to the living ; the sorrows and afflic- 
tions of the injured living can never be healed; the 
demolished towns, villages, dwellings, and the deso- 
lated country, can never be restored just as they were 
before the war commenced. The thousands of slaves 
who have already escaped, and those who shall yet 
escape from their owners during this war, will never 
be returned to their masters. The kind feelings and 
friendly relations which existed between the people of 
the North and the people of the South before this war 
began, will not be restored, during the present gene- 
ration at least. These things are all impossible : hence, 
to talk about getting back the Union, — the old Union, 
— the Union just as it was, — is folly, is nonsense, is 
absurd, is impossible." 



CHAPTER LIT. 



ORDER IN FREDERICKSBURG DURING THE TIME THE 
TOWN WAS OCCUPIED BY OUR TROOPS. 

Previous to the arrival of the Federal troops in the 
town of Fredericksburg and its vicinity, secessionists 
had reported that wherever the Union troops went, they 
committed all kinds of depredations and outrages on 
the property and persons of citizens. Hence the 
general panic among the people generally, and the 
female portion of the population particularly, at the 



440 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

advance of the Union troops on Fredericksburg in 
April, 1862. Instead, however, of the depredations and 
outrages being perpetrated which most of the citizens 
seemed to have anticipated, the officers appeared to do 
every thing reasonable and consistent with their posi- 
tion to conciliate the good feelings of the citizens. Pri- 
vate property was not only respected, but assiduously 
guarded by the troops, and men were encouraged to 
attend to their lawful, usual avocations. But we are 
sorry to say that the very kindness of the Federal 
troops seemed only to provoke the leading secessionists 
to feelings of greater vindictiveness than ever, if possible, 
against the officers, the soldiers, and the Federal Gov- 
ernment, and certainly more so against the Union citi- 
zens of the town. The reader may judge of the order 
observed in the town of Fredericksburg from the fol- 
lowing editorials which we published in the "Banner," 
and which if they had not been true would have been 
contradicted by all parties : — 

"We have lived in Fredericksburg sixteen years, 
and have never witnessed our town more quiet, during 
the whole time, than it has been since the arrival of 
the Federal army. General Patrick is certainly a fine 
disciplinarian, and his men know how to deport them- 
selves. We sincerely hope that quiet and good order 
will continue ; and we confidently believe they will, so 
long as General Patrick and his command remain." — 
Christian Banner, May 27, 1862. 

Owing to the insults which were offered to the Fede- 
ral soldiers and the indignities which were heaped on 
the flag of the Union after the arrival of the Union 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 441 

troops at Fredericksburg, by way of a friendly hint we 
wrote the following : — 

" Every cause must and will produce its legitimate 
effect : if, therefore, persons [citizens, we meant] do not 
wish to be insulted, they must not provoke insults. 
We make this remark by way of a friendly hint to all 
those persons who are seeking notoriety by offering 
insults to others, thereby rendering themselves supremely 
ridiculous in the estimation of all wise and prudent 
persons, both male and female." 

"Military Governor. — We regretted when we 
learned that General Patrick was going to leave town, 
there being such excellent order during his administra- 
tion. We are happy to learn, however, that General 
John F. Reynolds is one among the very best of men, 
and a fine general, and therefore sincerely hope and 
confidently believe that the same good order will be 
maintained as has been heretofore. We most devoutly 
wish that all our citizens may co-operate in endeavor- 
ing to maintain good order in town. Mobs, even on a 
small scale, are very much to be deplored in any com- 
munity of good citizens." — Christian Banner, May 
31, 1862. 

" We are happy to say that since General Reynolds 
has been in command in Fredericksburg the same good 
order has been maintained in town as was observed 
during the administration of General Patrick. Truly 
the citizens of Fredericksburg have abundant reason 
for gratulation in having two such accomplished gene- 
rals to preside over them, taking care of their interests 
and saving them from insult and injury, from any and 



442 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

all sources, so far as their knowledge and jurisdiction 
extend. We hope that General Reynolds and staff 
may remain in their present position until the war in 
Virginia shall have closed, or until the civil shall take 
the place of military authority. And we do most 
earnestly trust that all our citizens, male and female, 
old and young, will co-operate with the military au- 
thorities in maintaining good order." — Christian Ban- 
ner, June 7, 1862. 

The following brief paragraph may explain the 
reason why we threw out the " friendly hint" of which 
mention is made in a foregoing paragraph : — 

"UNION FLAG. 

"Some of the fastidious female population of our 
town leave the side-walks and circle around into the 
streets, to avoid passing under the Union flag. We 
have heard it suggested, however, that none of the 
ladies belonging to the elite class of the community 
have manifested such stupidity. Of course, none but 
the lower class, the poor, uneducated, would be guilty 
of such folly. Here we drop the subject for the 
reader's reflection." — Christian Banner, July 20, 1862. 

"MILITARY GOVERNOR. 

"Major Livingston, recently military governor of 
this place, has been succeeded by Captain John Mans- 
field, provost-marshal of General King's division. 
Governor Livingston was peculiarly felicitous in his 
policy of administration, and accomplished a great deal 
of business during the short time he remained in office. 
Captain J. E. Cook, provost-marshal, was active, ener- 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 443 

getic, and persevering in ferreting out nuisances and 
curses to our town ; and both Governor Livingston 
and Captain Cook merit the unqualified commendation 
of our citizens generally, for their indefatigable assi- 
duity in maintaining good order in our town during 
the short period they held command. 

" Captain John Mansfield, our present provost-mar- 
shal and military governor, has made a very consider- 
able beginning in clearing the town of some of the 
curses yet remaining in the place, having already cap- 
tured six cases and one barrel of liquors, which he has 
handed over, we presume, to the proper authorities. 
We confidently believe, from what we have seen, that 
Governor Mansfield will spare no labor in his endeavors 
to maintain good order in town, and sincerely hope that 
all our citizens will co-operate with him in his efforts ' 
to do so." — Christian Banner, June 24, 1862. 

" General Patrick has returned to Fredericksburg, 
and, we learn, will be military governor of our town. 
It will be remembered that he was the first military 
governor of Fredericksburg after the surrender of the 
town to the Union troops ; and his popularity is pro- 
verbial. We are gratified to learn that he will take 
command, and hope that he may be successful as for- 
merly in maintaining good order in town." — Christian 
Banner, July 30, 1862. 

Colonel H. Kingsbury was the last military gov- 
ernor of Fredericksburg. He was acting at the time 
the town was evacuated by General Burnside. Suffice 
it to say that Colonel H. Kingsbury was a gentleman. 

We hoped and prayed that the mildness and kind 



444 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

treatment of the officers and the good deportment of 
the soldiers of the United States army towards the 
secessionists and the citizens generally of Fredericks- 
burg would win secessionists over to the cause of the 
Union. But they did not. Ephraim is joined to his 
idols : let him alone. And so it is with leading seces- 
sionists: they are given over to judicial blindness, they 
are joined to their demon idol secession: let them alone. 
The more you try to conciliate, harmonize, and com- 
promise, the more determined they seem to be in their 
awful work of utter and general ruin. They construe 
the very kindness of their friends into cowardice and 
treason against Jeff Davis and the Southern Confe- 
deracy. Our heart's desire and prayer to God is that 
our countrymen, our brethren and kinsmen according 
to the flesh, may be saved. 

We feel it to be our duty to make the above state- 
ments, in testimony of the course of conduct pursued 
towards the citizens of Fredericksburg by both officers 
and soldiers during the time the United States troops 
held command of that town. We have written the 
truth, the statements of any others to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

"SLAVES SEEKING FREEDOM. 

" Since the surrender of the town of Fredericksburg 
to the Federal authorities, hundreds of servants have 
left their masters and gone to seek the blessings of 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 445 

freedom. Thousands of them may find, when it is too 
late, that the anticipated blessings of freedom will re- 
sult like the anticipated glories of secession. The one 
idea with them is freedom : all other blessings will 
follow as a matter of course. So it was with secession- 
ists : just secede, and jump into paradise." — Christian 
Banner, May 9, 1862. 

"GUERRILLA WARFARE. 

" This is a kind of irregular mode of carrying on war 
by the constant attacks of independent bands. It was 
adopted in the North of Spain during the Peninsular 
War. Guerrilla warfare is nothing more nor less than a 
legalized system of plunder, highway-robbery, murder, 
and assassination, and none but humans demonized 
would inaugurate a mode of warfare so revolting to 
humanity, civilization, Christianity, and the honorable 
modes of warfare. 

"We learn that some cowardly scoundrels are ren- 
dering themselves notoriously and eternally infamous, 
by sneaking through the country during the dark 
hours of night, and by violence taking men from their 
homes, their wives and children, and dragging them 
either into the army, or having them sent to Eichmond 
for imprisonment, simply because they won't shout 
hosannas to secession. There is an hour of terrible 
retribution awaiting such characters." — Christian 
Banner, May 20, 1862. 

"STAMPEDE OF SLAVES. 

" Thousands of negroes in Virginia are taking leave 
of their owners, and are going they know not where. 

38 



446 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

Some say they are going 'Norf,' where they anticipate 
an admittance into the ante-chamber of heaven, there to 
remain till the doors of the New Jerusalem are thrown 
wide open, when the champions of Abolitionism will 
give them an introduction to the highest dignitaries of 
the unknown world. 

"We most devoutly trust that Abolitionists will get 
their satisfaction of ' niggers.' Yes, they now have an 
unmistakable opportunity of developing their long- 
pent-up fountain of sympathy for the 'poor oppressed 
negroes of the South.' Let them now untie their purse- 
strings and scatter their money broadcast for the dear, 
darling idols of their hearts. What a pity that so 
many servants who have kind masters to feed, clothe, 
and look after their welfare, should be so foolish as to 
forsake all, to go in search of greater pleasures at the 
'Norf! 

"It is precisely like the folly of secessionists. They 
had comfortable homes, and were enjoying every bless- 
ing that a free and intelligent people, it seems to us, 
could have wished. But they were not satisfied. 
Driven to madness by ambition to reign, rule, and 
govern all things and all people, they plunged them- 
selves into ruin, and have dragged the whole country 
along with them. And still they rant and swear that 
they are right, notwithstanding thousands of fully-de- 
veloped facts stare them in the face, rebuking them 
for their supreme folly and unparalleled wickedness. 
Never was the old Koman proverb more clearly illus- 
trated than it is in the present case of the leaders of 
secessionists, that 'Whom the gods wish to destroy 
they first make mad.' And holy writ says, ' For this 
cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 447 

may believe a lie, that they all may be damned/ " — 
Christian Banner, May 31, 1862. 



"NORTHERN MEN SECESSIONISTS. 

" Some of the most violently envenomed secessionists 
in our whole community, during the great struggle of 
1860 and 1861, were Northern men. If the whole 
South had belonged to them, they could not have put 
on more important airs than they did. Southern 
men who feel a devotion to the South of which these 
men are incapable, have been the subjects of their 
taunts, sneers, and insults." — Christian Banner, July 
30, 1862. 

The following concise letter may explain to the 
reader some of our persecutions which were observed 
by the Union troops during their stay at Fredericks- 
burg. How sincerely it was appreciated by us, the 
reader may well imagine when he reflects upon the 
many sore trials we had to endure, and the gloomy 
circumstances which constantly surrounded us : — 

"[To the Editor of the 'Christian Banner.'] 

" Camp Rufus King, Va., 
"Opposite Fredericksburg. 

" Mr. Editor : — I have just been looking at the latest 
issue of your valuable and patriotic little paper ; and, 
amongst my thoughts, I was thinking of what you 
have come through since the so-called secession of the 
Southern States. But may God prosper you in your 
undertaking, and bring you safely through all your 
reverses and troubles. 



448 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

" When this unholy war is ended, and peace restored, 
then can the citizens of Fredericksburg see their folly 
clearly, and that, in the end, all will be for the best. 

"Let the citizens talk and lie of you as they may, 
your little paper shows your sentiments, and in the 
end you will be justified. Wherever we may go, our 
hope is that you may continue in your good work, 
and, by your diligence and perseverance, you may win 
back a great many to the Union. 

" By a Member of Company A, 

" 23d Eeg't N. Y. S. V." 

Christian Banner, July 30, 1862. 

By whom the above letter was written, we have 
never been able to learn. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

UNION ELEMENT OF THE SOUTH. 

That there is and always has been a strong Union 
element in the South, is beyond a doubt. This ele- 
ment, however, is kept latent, because, by force of 
circumstances, it cannot be developed without making 
victims of the loyal men, as they would be sacrificed 
on the unholy altar of treason and traitors if they were 
known to be Union men. " If this Union feeling 
exists," say some, "why is it not developed as the 
United States troops advance into the rebellious 
States ?" Simply because Union men have not confi- 
dence in the ability of the Federal army to hold the 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 449 

territory which they take. For example : if the Union 
men in Fredericksburg could have known positively 
that the town never would have been evacuated by the 
Union troops, and that the Confederate army would 
never have returned there, then there would have been 
a much stronger Union element developed at once than 
there has been since. This we positively know to be 
correct. 

It was reported by secessionists on the arrival of the 
Union troops at Fredericksburg, in April, 1862, that 
there were not more than one or two Union men in 
town, — that the whole community was a unit on seces- 
sion ; and this, as we were informed, was the impres- 
sion constantly sought to be made on the minds of the 
Union troops by secessionists ; when, in fact, nothing 
was more false. When General Burnside evacuated 
the town, there were more than fifty men who left Fre- 
dericksburg and its vicinity on account of their Union 
sentiments. A number of others, who were as true to 
the Union at heart, no doubt, as those who left, were, 
by force of circumstances, compelled to remain, but, 
not having committed themselves so thoroughly, hoped 
to be able to escape the penalties for treason against 
Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy ; and we hope 
they have escaped punishment. We were truly sorry 
for them, and deeply regretted that they could not 
leave when we did. 

Secessionists, knowing that they are above suspicion 
with their own party, and holding all the offices in 
towns and communities, are always first and foremost to 
impose themselves on the Federal troops when the latter 
advance into the territory of the rebellion. Whereas 
Union men, for fear of being suspicioned and reported 



450 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

by secessionists, act, as a general rule, with more re- 
serve. And hence the first impressions that are made 
on the minds of the Union troops for the most part 
when they first enter a community, are made by seces- 
sionists, who declare that there is no " respectable 
Union" influence in the community. And afterwards, 
if loyal men express Union sentiments, Union troops 
think they are dissembling, and will perhaps give them 
the " cold shoulder," which disheartens the Union 
citizens and tends to crush out the loyal feelings which 
they have. 

Especially are Union men intimidated when they see 
no difference made between themselves and the most 
violent secessionists by the officers of the Federal army, 
and hearing it repeated that the " Yankees don't think 
half as much of Union men as they do of secessionists," 
because they believe they are " hypocrites;" and, fear- 
ing that the Union soldiers will leave, and that the 
Confederates will return, they are awed into submission 
by the infernal rod of tyranny which is constantly 
being held over them by secessionists, who threaten 
what shall be done to them and with them " when the 
time comes." "We are not guessing at things now, but 
writing what we believe and know to be facts. There 
are numbers of Union men all through the seceded 
States who are afraid to commit themselves, knowing 
the terrible consequences which would follow if they 
should be suspicioned, reported, and convicted by their 
secesh neighbors of disloyalty to Jeff Davis and the 
Southern Confederacy. The people know that they 
have been swindled out of all their rights and privi- 
leges, but they know, likewise, that they have no re- 
dress under present circumstances, and must therefore 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 451 

submit in silence to the many ten thousand wrongs 
which have been forced and heaped upon them. They 
scorn secession, and hate it worse than they can hate the 
very devil himself. But they can't help themselves. 
What can they do but submit ? 

The Union feeling in the South is very considerable, 
and should be sacredly respected and encouraged by 
the United States Government. Suppose this rebellion 
should not be put down, and that Jeff Davis should 
succeed in permanently establishing his empire : what 
will become of the Union men of the South and of the 
thousands of refugees who have been driven from their 
homes and families and forced to leave all their pro- 
perty, and every interest they have on earth, behind ? 
Must they all become totally bankrupt, and return to 
live among a people to be insulted, persecuted, pro- 
scribed, and degraded, they and their children, for- 
ever ? The thought is revolting. What then ? Must 
they, by force of circumstances, seek new countries and 
begin the world anew with all the infirmities of age and 
helpless families ? Surely this cannot be, unless justice 
has taken its everlasting flight from the abode of 
mortals. 

But this is not all. Should the United States Gov- 
ernment fail to crush out this rebellion, the whole 
country in process of time will become disintegrated 
and broken up, so that not only the Union men of the 
South, but the whole of the free States, will become the 
vassals of this great negro-oligarchy. Hence it be- 
comes a question of dignified importance for the most 
serious and profound consideration of the people of the 
free States, as well as of the Union men and refugees 
of and from the South. 



452 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

We, therefore, argue that with all true patriots and 
friends of liberty there should be but one party, until 
this gigantic and wicked rebellion is put down; and 
that party should be the uncompromising Union party. 
Let all other subjects and questions for the time-being 
be merged into this one a^-absorbing consideration, 
the salvation of the Union. Let every lover of freedom, 
every friend to his country, and every friend to 
humanity say, The Union must and shall be preserved. 
If this be not done, then America will become a land 
of slaves indeed. Let the negro question in this great 
struggle be forgotten, and let the whole race be trans- 
ported to Africa when the proper time comes, where 
they now ought to be, and from whence they should 
never have been brought. We can live, thank God, 
without negroes to wait upon us, but we cannot live 
without a country ! With true patriots this is no war 
about the " infernal nigger." No: it is a war between 
despotism and freedom, — between tyrants who are seek- 
ing to overthrow the Republic and all the rights of 
freemen, and the friends of liberty, who are fighting 
and trying to save them. The question is not whether 
negroes shall be made free, but whether free white men 
shall be made slaves I This is the question, when fairly 
stated and correctly understood. Give us poverty, 
but give us freedom ! Heap labor and toil upon us, 
but let them be made tolerable by the blessing of free- 
dom. Strip us' of all the plunder and trash of earth, 
but as long as heaven's own light shall shine upon our 
path, and the branches of the tree of American liberty 
shall wave over our head, securing to us the freedom 
of speech, the freedom of the press, and the freedom 



THE SOUTH SACRIFICED. 453 

of action, we can endure all the ills of life. In a 
word, give us liberty, or give us death. 

In conclusion, we would say to the people of the 
South, You confided in your political leaders and 
spiritual guides, and they abused your confidence. 
They deceived you, and their deception, consummated, 
has involved our country in civil war, has desolated 
Virginia, and sacrificed the South upon the accursed 
altar of their unhallowed ambition. If they did this 
thing ignorantly, they are no longer worthy of your 
confidence ; and if they did it knowingly, they are less 
worthy of it : so that under no circumstances are they 
worthy of your regard. They forced upon you seces- 
sion, revolution, and civil war. They promised you 
peace, and have given you war; they promised you 
plenty, and have given you destitution ; they promised 
you independence and freedom, and have fastened 
upon you military despotism; they promised you a 
permanent basis for the security and perpetuity of 
your slave property, and have virtually emancipated 
all your slaves; they promised you prosperity and 
happiness, and have given you desolation, lamentation, 
and woe; they promised you national honor, and 
have forced upon you national degradation; they 
promised you day, and have given you night; they 
promised you light, and have given you darkness; 
they promised you bread, and have given you stones ; 
they promised you fishes, and have given you scor- 
pions; they promised you life, and have given you 
death. All these things have your leaders done. 
They have deceived you, swindled you out of your 
rights, your freedom, your property, and your hap- 
piness. Abandon them; be led by them no longer; 



454 THE CONSPIRACY UNVEILED. 

denounce secession as a deadly poison, and return 
to your former loyalty to your country. Save the 
Union, and you save the South; destroy the Union, 
and you destroy the South. Stand by the Union until 
you die, — not that you love the South less, but the 
Union more. League not with speculators, bankers, 
stock- holders, involved merchants, disappointed office- 
seekers, aspiring demagogues, ambitious tyrants, poli- 
tical tricksters, clerical knaves, and damnable traitors, 
to overthrow the Government, to destroy the Union, 
and to annihilate the South. 



THE END. 



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